Deciding how far 'Anything' Goes
by noncynic
Summary: How much would Ron risk for Kim's sake, how many others would he put at risk? He has an opportunity to learn that him self, but what will he choose to do? Story now goes on from that premise, but not sure where it will end.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kim Possible, any of the characters from her show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

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**Setting: Load Laboratories, Middleton, Colorado, thirty-one years from present.**

The laboratory sat quiet and empty, as it should have been at such a late hour. The newest project of the geniuses who ran it took up most of the space in the room. Not yet 'dressed' for company, it's various connecting cables and power lines were a jumbled mess, at least to anyone not actually working on the project. In the morning, many of those people would be arriving to put everything in order for the arrival of a number of VIPs, who could affect the project's future funding.

The project would hopefully be the first fully successful means of time travel developed by the human race. 'Successful' being the key word. 'Known' was another that should have been added, as many of the scientists involved believed that what they were attempting had been done before, but kept secret by whatever government or agency had done it. Which didn't dilute their own expectations and hopes one bit.

Security on the project was, of course, extremely tight. It was practically impossible to gain access to the lab when it was locked up, without setting off alarms that would cause the dramatic arrival of several dozen heavily armed security personnel, both human and robotic. Of course, there were ways it could be done.

Having a pass certainly helped, if it authorized you to be in the labs at the time you chose to be. If that happened to be after hours, then you needed the consent and authorization of the CEO of Load Laboratories, Wade Load himself. Or his security password, which he kept secret from everyone, and was never careless with. Except when he trusted any people who happened to be present. Like an old friend, Ron Stoppable.

To be honest, with all his business success, Wade was still a bit naïve where some people were concerned. Considering that it would take little thought to realize that Ron might have a compelling reason to use the time machine for a certain purpose, it somehow never occurred to Wade that Ron would actually _do_ it. On the other hand, maybe he knew full well what Ron intended, though Ron had not said a thing about his plans, leaving Wade in the clear if there were repercussions, unless someone decided to be particularly vindictive.

That Ron was able to get around all the security measures would have surprised few people who knew what his life had been like since his days as sidekick to teen hero Kim Possible. He had had good cause to become self-reliant in such matters, as his life had come to depend on such skills.

As he slipped into the lab itself, he checked a small device in his hand, confirming that the video surveillance within the lab had been properly spoofed. Nodding to himself, he proceeded directly to the control panel for the machine and began a series of system checks, depending entirely on his memory, from the one time he had seen one of Wade's technicians start it up.

Nearly fifty, Ron was declining slightly from the well-buffed physique he had had throughout his twenties and thirties, and into his early forties. He regretted now his letting go, but after he had been 'retired', he had lost interest in maintaining himself with the same discipline that had become natural to him. When he had learned the truth about this project, he had not had the time to fully recover what he had lost, but hopefully he was fit enough for the mission he had in mind.

He placed a large kit bag near the hatch into the machine's interior, while waiting for the system to warm up. Though he couldn't input the settings yet, he still typed the target date he desired on the screen, ready to enter. He fidgeted and tried not to pace, but ended up doing so, albeit only two or three steps one way, then back again. Finally the machine signaled it's readiness. Wiping his suddenly damp palms on his jeans, he reached to press the 'Enter' key. It was almost a cliché when he was interrupted.

"Not a good idea!" came a low, sinister voice from the shadows of the room, somewhere to his right.

Reaching for the collapsible steel baton holstered across the small of his back, Ron turned towards the sound, trying to pierce the gloom to discern who had spoken. But he didn't see a thing, until one of the shadows right in front of him moved closer, and resolved into a shape. One that matched the voice, but caused Ron's jaw to drop.

"You...you're not real!" A low, mocking laugh responded, echoing around the lab.

"I'm not?" again the sinister voice. Then the figure shrugged, and a different voice, this one normal and female, came from it. "Okay, I'm not real, or at least, this outfit isn't the real me." A gloved hand swept up to remove the black, wide-brimmed, slouch hat, while another pulled away the red scarf muffling the lower half of a face. A grinning, olive skinned face, with two bright blue eyes, and topped with a disheveled mop of short black hair. "Sorry to startle you. As to the outfit, I needed it on my last mission."

"_Mission?"_ Ron wondered, as the woman removed a red-lined cloak and laid it across a chair. The rest of her outfit, now revealed, was no surprise, though Ron was somewhat disappointed not to see two large automatics in a double shoulder rig. Still, his experienced eye detected the probably presence of some kind of weapons under the jacket of the suit that she wore. She was tall and broad-shouldered, making her disguise believable, on one level. Of course, the fact that as far as Ron knew, the character portrayed was entirely fictional, negated that bit of credibility. Finally finding his voice, he asked the less important of the two questions bouncing around his brain. "What kind of mission was it, a costume party?"

The woman snorted derisively. "Hardly! Just trying to prevent a certain event in history from happening quite the way it did, while making sure everyone had a happy ending. At least, those who deserved it!" Undoing her jacket, she allowed Ron to get a glimpse of two guns, just as he had thought, holstered under her armpits. But, his brain was analyzing her words, and he became wary. "so, you're here to stop me from doing what I have planned?" His tone was defiant.

"Well, here to explain why it won't work. After that, you can go ahead if you want, futile as it will be." She pulled a small device from one pocket of her jacket, and activated it, studying it as she walked towards the machine. Ron moved to cut her off. "Don't mess with the machine! I have to use it!"

"Not going to 'mess' with it!" she responded curtly, then frowned, "Seems someone already has..."

"What!" Ron spun to study the machine. "What do you mean? Will it still work?"

"Not the way you want it to, no." stepping carefully in among the tangle of cables, the woman peered curiously at the connections. Ron cautiously moved with her, trying to watch her, and look where she was at the same time. That proved to be futile, especially when he nearly fell amongst the cables. "Careful, Ron!" the woman snapped. "Ah, there we go! A couple of connections switched, but I don't think accidentally. The results should be pretty entertaining, and somewhat embarrassing to whomever is in the machine at the time. That is, if they are planning a test with a live subject." She looked searchingly at Ron. He flushed slightly, but kept his own gaze steady.

The woman finally shrugged, and went back to examining the connections. She appeared to spot something, but before Ron could check the spot she appeared to react to, she diverted his attention by pointing, "That one, Blue 7, has been switched with that one, Yellow 3. It could just be a harmless practical joke, but...Well, lets get clear of these cables, and sit and talk a bit."

"What! No, switch the cables back! I don't have time to talk, I have to go, before the regular security check!" He checked his watch, and calmed a bit, he had plenty of time, but not to talk!

The woman shook her head, "You can change them back yourself, but hear me out, first, and maybe you won't want to. I am serious, Ron, not trying to stall, your plan will not work! Now, go on, move so I can get out of here." Ron stared at her, doubt on his face, then he turned to work his way out of the tangle. As soon as he did, the woman spun and thrust her hand among the cables. When she pulled her hand back, one finger was smeared with something yellowish. She sniffed it quickly, before wiping it off on her slacks, underneath her jacket. _"Nacho Cheese, again? One of these days I am going to find these cheese-loving time travelers, I hate a mystery!"_

As Ron reached a clear area, he turned, arms crossed. "Well, what do you have to say? I warn you, I'm going to do this, no matter what you say!"

"Well, if you are willing to pay the price, and risk the consequences, you will be free to do so, after all, what is one more catastrophe, with all the others already set off. Your conscience, after all." The woman took a seat in a swivel chair on casters. Ron kept between her and the control board. She looked him in the eyes again briefly, then shrugged. "Going to tell you some things I shouldn't, because I trust you not to tell anyone later, especially Wade Load, he would never be able to resist testing what I tell you, and...well, you'll understand."

"Now, tell me, what are two of the more popular themes in science fiction? One should be very easy to guess, right now. They both have to do with changing the present."

Ron scowled, suspicious that he _was_ being stalled, but answered, anyway, "Well, Time Travel, of course. As to the other...Parallel Universes?"

The woman smiled, "Well, that was easy! Except, not universes, worlds, duplicating the whole universe is probably impossible." She frowned slightly, as a thought crossed her mind, but then resumed her smile, and her story. "Now, to get a parallel world is actually quite easy, in concept. First, you need a world, on which there exists a native-born race in great numbers, possessing certain higher mental abilities, especially, and I kid you not, imagination."

"Once you have that, the process is simple. Just take one of the members of that race, and displace them in time, from a point anywhere on the planet in the 'present', to a place anywhere on the planet, anytime in the 'past', and _voila!_ You have your parallel world! Now, the area duplicated is spherical, centered on the planet, obviously, and including all it's natural satellites, though I'm not sure why that is."

"The diameter of the sphere is determined by the total number of copies of that one particular world that happen to be in existence at the time, both stable, and unstable copies. Once you exit the sphere, you are in 'shared' space, which is basically the rest of the universe." Questions were obviously forming in Ron's brain, from the look on his face, but she pressed on, "Now, note that our 'time traveler' doesn't have to do a thing to split off this 'copy', just arrive in the past. So, in the first place, your plan won't stop what you mean to from happening in this world, because you will be on an entirely different one, created by your own little trip back."

"But, in this new world, I can stop it from happening? That would be worth it!"

"Well, yes, but it might be a short-lived happiness. You did hear me say 'stable' and 'unstable', didn't you?" Ron frowned, but nodded, looking as if he knew he wasn't going to like what was said next. "In order for a new world to stabilize, it has to change, radically! The changes in question have to be represented within the lives of the race previously mentioned. On Earth, humanity, obviously. If the world remains unstable, bad things will eventually happen."

"A parallel world can not be created without sufficient numbers of the race. On Earth, duplication cannot occur before the 13th century, A.D.. Anyone traveling back before that date will create an instantly unstable world, which literally won't last a minute. And, a world that should be stable will destabilize and die if it's population drops below a certain level. For instance, if a nuclear war breaks out."

"But, the end of most unstable worlds occurs on certain occasions my colleagues rather unimaginatively refer to as 'Judgments'. Now, that is not to imply that there is an intelligence behind these occasions, it might actually be a law of physics at work. They occur at somewhat irregular intervals of between 90 and 130 years. When they occur, all extant unstable worlds destabilize, and begin to suffer increasingly violent meteorological and geological events, making the world less and less habitable, and eventually ending in the world literally breaking apart, usually in about seven months." Ron had a horrified look on his face, now. "The only good news, as some of my more callous acquaintances put it, is that the human race is usually extinct by the end of the third month, and doesn't have to suffer the last four." She was scowling at the end of her speech.

Ron let all this sink in. "So, what you are saying is, if I go back, I have to change history enough to stabilize the world, or I am just creating a world that will only last...how long?"

The woman just stared at him a moment, then shook her head, "Not sure you're getting this, Ron, you would be literally creating billions of lives, who might die if you don't succeed! I know this matter is very emotional to you, but think of that!"

"Yes! I understand! First, tell me how long I'd have!"

A stubborn look appeared on the woman's face. "What date are you targeting?" She asked, tersely.

Ron hesitated, then stepped aside so she could see the computer screen behind him. She looked, frowned, and then answered, "Two years."

Ron's jaw dropped in shock, "Two years!? I can't change the world in two years!"

"Sure you could, just start a major war! Too bad there aren't any big ones you could _stop,_ which might accomplish the same purpose! Or, take a plague back, but make sure to take the cure for you and Kim, to make sure you survive it! Just be sure it doesn't kill too many people, or that's it! World ends! Of course, if you start a war, don't expect Kim to stay safe, while others are in danger, she'll be right in the thick of things, trying to save the innocents caught in the middle, if nothing else!" She was on her feet at the end of this, not shouting, but speaking in a sharp, sarcastic tone.

Ron stared resentfully back at her. His voice trembled as he began to speak, before steadying, "You don't understand! What happened to Kim was so unfair! And, I was responsible for it, whether others think so or not! I would do anything to prevent it happening to her!"

"But, would you put that many innocent lives in peril, just for her?"

Ron's jaw tightened, and he nodded, "I just might, I just might!"

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Okay, this one isn't going to go very long, and could have been done as a one-shot, but I wanted an opportunity for some feedback before I wrap it up.

Read and Review, Please.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: After my first attempt to write a second chapter for this story, which didn't satisfy me at all, I adopted w new policy of writing a chapter, and letting it sit on my computer overnight. If I was satisfied with it in the morning, then I would post it. This is the fifth re-write, though, and I have to draw the line somewhere.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

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"Just Might, Ron? Tell me, what is speaking here? Common Sense, reason, logic? Gut response, or just a rusty old Prime Directive of yours, your 'Kim Directive'? Anything to save Kim, no holds barred?" As she spoke, the woman rose and began to examine the exterior of the time machine, skirting Ron's kit bag as she did, which caused him to tense up. "Someone built this machine for two, Ron, why didn't you try and get someone to go with you, just in case?"

"Doing this is illegal, I didn't want to risk anyone else getting into trouble." He replied, "Besides, there isn't anyone I trust for this anymore."

"Because they all disappeared, or you drove them away? Or, is it just that you see this as your job alone? How did it work? Kim saves the World, you save Kim?" Ron watched warily as she approached the control console, but she didn't touch it, returning to her study of the time machine.

"No! I mean, sometimes Kim needed me to get her out of a jam, but it wasn't like she meant to...get in the jams in the first place" Ron winced at the lameness of the last bit.

"Don't sell yourself short, Ron. Or is that advice a waste of breath? She wouldn't have gotten as far as she did without you, and I'm not just talking about her missions! But, tell me, when she came to your rescue, did she ever put anyone else at risk? Don't think so. You, on the other hand, were not so concerned all the time with risking others." Ron scowled as he prepared to reply, but still noticed a small grin appear on the woman's face as she examined the underside of a steel ring that encircled the transmission chamber of the machine.

"What do you mean, it was always just me, and Rufus. And Wade, sort of. The Tweebs...they got involved on their own, usually, they...just tried to help their sister."

"Florida, Ron. You took a bunch of 'spring breakers' and crashed Drakken's hideout. How could you know none of them would end up being hurt? Did you know for certain that whatever Drakken was working on wouldn't harm them? That Shego wouldn't go ballistic? No, you didn't, and I'll wager, no matter what justification you have come up with since, you didn't think of it beforehand, you just thought about saving Kim!"

Ron's mouth worked, but nothing came out. He had no rebuttal for those accusations, because they were basically true. After a few moments of silence, the woman continued. "How long have you known about this machine, Ron?"

Ron didn't want to answer, but just had to say something, "Five days, I learned about it by accident."

"You know better then that!" ignoring Ron's startled look, she changed tack, "Five Days? Planned and executed this in that short a period? Gathered the intel you needed, and the materials?" Her attention to his bag again made Ron tense. "Impressive, if you had no help. But, we both know someone wanted you to know about this, someone wanted you to do this..."

"No! This is my Op, and mine alone! How do you 'think' you know these things? Who are you, and why the silly costume? Are you going to prove what you said, or do you expect me to take your word for it? Your word against Kim's..." He broke off, suddenly unsure what word to use.

Raised eyebrows were her only response to his rising anger. "Well, Ron, I _am_ from farther in the future then this, so knowing what's going on is an easy matter. As to your other questions, call me Sara, for convenience. As to my dress, I just completed a mission where this outfit had certain advantages in dealing with the bad guys. And for proof? Well, this isn't going to turn into an 'It's a Wonderful Life' variant, with me showing you how things turn out, I can only move myself through time, not anyone else. But, I may be able to provide some proof, depending on how you take it. But first, let's talk about _your_ mission. Are you saying no one knows about this, not Wade, not the Possibles?"

Ron's gaze dropped to the floor. "I haven't seen the Possibles in years, not since...I had to stop looking for Jim and Tim."

"Not taking the blame for their disappearance, are you? No, don't answer that, you're just blaming yourself for three years searching for them, and coming up empty. But, twelve years, and not contacting the Possibles? Didn't want to be 'uncle' to Jim's and Tim's kids?"

Ron swallowed hard before answering, "Not like I'm good 'uncle' material anymore! I promised I would never give up looking, but I did!"

"Because, when your bosses lost interest, they wouldn't let you 'waste' time on it, anymore? Hmmm, and that's the same way you lost your Mystical Monkey Power, wasn't it? One of your bosses said something like, 'Tell those Damn Ninjas we can't afford to spare you for six months so you can stare at your navel, we need you serving your country!' Ron looked up with a startled expression, "Yep, thought so. Except, Yamanouchi wasn't obliged to bend their rules to satisfy the United States Government, were they? Or, whomever actually granted the power to you."

She had been leaning against the machine as she spoke, right where she had made her 'discovery', but now she began to prowl the room. "And you knew you would lose it, but you made your choice." She held up her hand to forestall his interrupting her. "And, of course, without the power, you were no longer quite as useful to your superiors, which is why they 'let' you retire. They wanted it both ways, of course, you with the power, but no inconveniences to their agenda. Probably in their own minds blamed you for losing it. Certainly didn't take that blame, themselves. So, your choice might be seen as a bad one there, Ron."

"I had to do it! I mean, my reasons weren't the same as when I joined, but I needed to be there, to help people!" Ron's response lacked heat, though. He was already glancing towards the machine, curious about what Sara had seen. _"More sabotage?"_

"And did you? Help people, I mean. Or did you just take your bosses' word that it was all for the greater good? When is the last time you did something Kim would have been proud of?" Ron reacted as if he had been slapped. His cheeks began to redden. "Of course, Kim did have different ideas about doing good, I understand that. She was pretty naïve in some matters, not always seeing the 'Big Picture', and how letting some people suffer was necessary..."

"Stop! Shut up, Just shut up a minute!" Ron shouted, then turned away from her, hands clenched into fists as he tried to control himself. Finally, he relaxed, shoulder slumping. "Kim was naïve, she was always focused, so focused on some things, she needed to see proof of what she was accomplishing, she needed to know she was doing good."

"And when did you stop needing that, Ron? When did you just start taking other people's word for it? When did just doing good for a few, and knowing you what you had accomplished, become buried beneath doing some kind of abstract good for many? And, which people were actually in that 'many'? The people you worked for? Obviously, they came first in their own book. But what about the people Kim cared about? I know enough about her..."

"How!!" Ron's voice raised again, "How do you know so much about her? Why are you even doing this?" Ron had moved next to the time machine, leaning on the frame of the entrance hatch.

Sara was silent a moment, before sighing. "Well. Hard to explain this. The mission I was just on involved you and Kim, and others you know. Not on this world, but on one of the others I 'allege' exist. In researching my mission, I read several accounts, including one written by you, Ron." A suspicious scowl spread across Ron's face. "And, I became intrigued by all of you, so I started reading everything I could find in the archives about you, on all the alternate worlds from which any records were preserved, as well as this one. Quite a variety of 'lives' you've lived, Ron Stoppable. And Kim Possible as well, of course. So, I may have a personal reason for stopping you, I'll admit it."

Ron continued to scowl a moment, then snorted, "Still no proof of your story! Nothing that will stop me, anyway!"

"Even if my story isn't true, can you afford to dismiss it? Or what about Temporal Paradox? Lots of fairly smart brains believe in that, you know. Go back in time, change your past, and cancel the future from which you came, and..."

"I know about that! But that's a risk I'm willing to take, I can't just do nothing!"

"Sure you can! Just accept the past, however painful it may be, rather then do anything to make things worse! I mean, what was your plan, anyway, tell your younger self how to prevent those events from happening?"

"No, I can't expect him to..." Ron clamped his mouth shut.

Sara's eyes narrowed, "Can't expect him to what? Ron, I know the story, I can name six different ways he could prevent what happened to Kim, all easily within his abilities! So, what were _you_ planning to do, that he wouldn't?"

Ron's glared resentfully at her. "No more! Put up or shut up, show me your proof, if you even have any!"

She leaned against the opposite side of the hatch from him, arms folded across her chest. "You already know where to find it, Ron, just have to look."

Ron scowled, but took a step back, and studied the steel ring. "On the bottom, Ron." Sara said. Crouching enough to see the underside of the ring, Ron only took his eyes off the woman for a quick glance, then did a double take. Eyes locked on the words etched in the steel. "Hicka-bicka-boo?" he whispered.

Sara shrugged, "Seems this machine is a bit older than you thought, Ron. Built for two, as I said, and who do you know who could not only build a time machine, but would do so just to try and save their own sister?"

Ron just stared at her, then looked again at the writing, face slack with astonishment. "But, how did Wade..." His eyes widened, and he looked up into her face, "Why would he...all these years?"

"Why don't we invite him down, he's watching us from his office, after all." Sara turned and addressed the room in general, "Wade Load! Come on Down! Come down, and face your demons!"

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Okay, There. Chapter two, not what I originally imagined.

Read and Review, please.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

Sorry to be so long with an update, but see Author's Notes at end of chapter.

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"Want to bet you can find 'Hoo-sha' etched somewhere on this machine?" Sara asked Ron. He didn't answer, just ran his fingers over the etched words he'd been lead to. "Yeah, sucker bet, right? You know the whole point of my intervention here was to talk you out of making a mistake, not because I don't agree Kim Possible is worth an effort to save, but because you wouldn't be doing that. All you'd be doing...Ah! I believe Mister Load has arrived!" Ron straightened up, reaching in his pocket for the device monitoring the surveillance system.

Sara looked at it askance. "Why bother with that? I mean, who made it for you in the first place?" Ron frowned. "And besides, if Wade doesn't want to appear on his own surveillance system, he won't, will he?" At that moment the doors to the room slid open, and Wade himself entered.

If Wade and Ron had stood side by side, people could have been forgiven for believing that Wade was the older of the two. Whereas gray hairs were only just making a noticeable appearance on Ron's head, Wade's hair had gone completely gray, and was absent entirely from the top of his scalp. His fitness, and weight, had varied greatly over the years, depending on just how much he cared about his health and appearance from year to year. He was currently wearing two-thirds of a black three-piece suit, having left the jacket in his office, over a pale blue shirt. A Navy and silver tie hung loose around his neck.

The look on his face was one of curiosity as he looked at Sara, changing to guilt when he glanced at Ron. The one he received in turn was bordering on hostile. "Ron, I..." Those words were enough to set Ron off.

"Is it true!! Is it!! Did Jim and Tim use this machine, fifteen Damn years ago?! You let me hunt for them for three years! I was nearly killed a dozen times trying to find them! Did you tell their parents? Did you just let them suffer, not knowing? At least with Kim..." He choked on his words. Wade just stared at him, fear in his eyes. Somehow, this just made Ron lose it.

He lunged forwards and grabbed Wade by the collar, bodily picking him off the floor and shaking him, then dropping him and pulling one hand back...and then jumping back and dropping into a crouch when two metallic clicks sounded. Sara had her guns in hand, but they were pointed at the floor. She shook her head.

"No violence, Ron! You've become far too quick to resort to that!" Sara decocked her twin automatics and reholstered them. "Not even giving him a chance to explain? Last friend you have?"

"Friend! If he's such a friend, why didn't he tell me about this before!" Ron swept his arm towards the machine. "Why didn't they all tell me about this, fifteen years ago!"

"Because we didn't trust you, that's why!" Wade retorted, hotly.

Ron's eyes bulged. "Not trust me! Not trust me to save Kim?!"

"No! Not trust you not to go tell your bosses what we were planning to do! Not trust you not to ask their permission for you to go! We all agreed, we didn't know you anymore, Ron!"

Ron went from angry, to shocked, to incredulous. "Tell my bosses? I'd never tell...this is because of what happened to Zita and Felix? They were exonerated! Someone just overreacted to something I...said! If I hadn't been away, nothing would have happened!"

"Not something you said, something you _reported_! Something it wouldn't have taken you ten minutes to check out yourself! Yeah, they were exonerated, but the investigation cost them their security clearances, permanently! And since they couldn't _explain_ how that happened, way too many people wouldn't trust them at all!"

"I didn't have ten minutes, I had to leave on a mission!"

"And couldn't trust your friends for the two days that it took to do that mission? Couldn't let it wait until you got back, to handle it yourself? No, you went by the rules, immediately report anything suspicious, right? No matter how innocent it seemed? AND IT WAS INNOCENT!" Wade's body shook violently from his own emotional outburst.

"I couldn't know that! I had to trust..." Ron's mouth kept working, but nothing came out.

"Yeah, you chose who to trust, and so did we! And you weren't on the list!"

Ron backed away and dropped into the swivel chair still draped with Sara's cloak, taking his head in his hands. Wade continued to glare at him for a moment, then his gaze shifted to Sara. "How much of what you're saying do you know to be true?"

"First, do you believe in the existence of parallel worlds?"

Wade scowled, but nodded. "Yes, I believe in them, and your story explains a few things."

"Like what?" Ron muttered.

"Like how twenty years ago, one of our unmanned probes photographing one of Saturn's moons also photographed another unmanned probe labeled **'United States of America'** that couldn't be accounted for. And how that was the second of three such sightings, all proven not to be hoaxes, practical jokes, or Jim and Tim's old projects."

Sara nodded, "Didn't know if you were in on that secret."

Wade smirked, "Had to be, they checked my inventory, too! So, what is fact, and what is supposition?"

Sara took a deep breath and expelled it slowly, "Well, let's see. Fact, all the surviving stable worlds, those who have made it through known 'judgments', have all been radically different, historically, no two are even close to alike. Fact, they did prove that time travelers triggered duplication.."

"How? Did they prove it, I mean?" Wade interjected.

Sara's face soured. "It was an accident, actually! Scientist determined to change an event that had only happened two weeks before. He interviewed six people for the job, since doing it with an unproven device was unethical, and illegal! After the interviews, called one in, and sent them back. Nothing changed. So, only two hours later, he called another, told them they were first, and sent them back. Still nothing. Kept doing it until in all he had sent six people back in less than twelve hours!"

"Just so happens that next day, a manned spaceship was launched, intending to exit 'exclusive' space and contact the other humans from different earths properly. Except, seven different copies of this ship emerged into 'shared' space! Identical crews, everything the same! Took nearly a year to sort it all out, but eventually they had the story, and enough proof to convince a lot of people that parallel worlds with different histories could be created using well-prepared time travelers. And that's when things got really ugly! But, that's more then you need to know!"

She surveyed her audience, "Well, is that a convincing enough story?"

"If you aren't making it up!" Ron snapped.

"Okay! Jim and Tim Possible used this machine, and history didn't change, there's no sign of them in any records, and can you imagine that pair disappearing quietly?" Sara asked, with a touch of sarcasm.

"That's not proof! The machine itself may not have really worked!" was Ron's response.

"Well, then that's it for your plan, then, because the machine's set exactly the same! Wade didn't change any of it, though I'm sure he's taken it apart twice, and reassembled it, and checked every equation three or four times, but found nothing wrong, right, Wade?"

Wade scowled stubbornly, but relented after a moment. "No, it's exactly the same, I couldn't find anything wrong! But that doesn't mean anything, something could have happened to both of them, before they could change events!"

Sara sighed, shaking her head. "You sure make it hard to keep your secrets secret, Wade!" A touch of fear appeared in Wade's eyes. "What about your second attempt?" Wade recoiled as if slapped, and Ron gawked at him, before turning red. "Someone else? You trusted someone else more then me? Who? And When?"

"No! Not trusted! Um, nine years ago, I trusted you more...then, but I couldn't..." His voice trailed off.

"Couldn't WHAT!"

"Lose you." Wade replied in a small voice. "You were the only other one left, just me and you, all that were left that really remembered her, and all she did right. I couldn't lose you, too!" His voice strengthened as he continued, "But now, I couldn't stand not knowing, anymore! I couldn't just do nothing anymore!" then he began to get angry, "And you! You believed her..." pointing at Sara, "At first! 'If I could make another world where Kim's still alive and happy, that would be worth it', right? Except for one thing! You'd be in that world, and I'd still be here, stuck in this one! All by myself!"

"Except for your family, and the Possibles!" Ron shot back, but he didn't sound convinced of his own words.

"Three ex-wives, and two kids who ignore me, you mean?" Wade bitterly replied, but then the edge in his voice faded, "And the Possibles? I can't look the Doctors in the eye, anymore! And Jim's and Tim's families? God, I can't be around them for more then a few minutes, and the guilt almost makes me sick!"

"Nice of them to forget about their wives and kids, before they both climbed into that machine together!" Sara snapped, then looked away, blushing.

Ron looked surprised, while Wade got angry again, "They thought it would work! And there was no way one of them was going to do it, without the other! They should have gone, and been right back, with little or no time elapsed, here! We sent a remote probe back, and recovered it!" Ron's face became thoughtful at Wade's words, which Sara noticed, even as she replied, "Well, a machine wouldn't trigger duplication! A chimpanzee wouldn't, either! Only human beings do! And no, no scientist has a theory for that. And you don't want to hear all the theological theories that have popped up!"

"Theological?" Wade queried.

"Of course! God had to have been involved, didn't he?" Sara threw her hands up, "I Mean, I'm not dismissing the possibility, but these guys...they have almost as many different theories as the scientists, and argue over them as much! But some of them go farther, they think they've figured out 'God's Master Plan', and they try and 'help' it along! It never changes, and it's always someone else who has to 'adjust' or pay some price, to make it all work! Sometimes even 'pay' with their lives!"

Ron had ignored the last bit, lost in his own thoughts. "A machine wouldn't trigger duplication?"

Sara groaned inwardly. _"Oops!"_

Wade looked at Ron, "Now there's a thought! But, the machine would have to be programmed to operate with complete Autonomy! The degree of programming necessary to cover all possible contingencies would be enormous!"

"Not necessarily..." Ron remarked, absently.

Sara scowled, "Not if you just want to do it Ron's way!" She pointed at Ron's kit bag when Wade looked up. "Enough explosives and incendiaries in there to start a decent war, or end one!"

Wade's head snapped around to stare at Ron, face shocked. "What! Explosives! You wouldn't need explosives to save Kim!"

"I wasn't just going to stop those events, I wanted a more permanent solution!" Ron shouted, defensively.

Wade looked at him incredulously for a moment, then threw his arms in the air and stalked away, walking all the way to the control console before spinning back around and shouting, "You see? Why we couldn't trust you? 'Permanent Solution', as in what our Government taught you to do? Have you been their boy so long you can't remember how things were with Kim?"

"Kim was naive! Thwart the plan that got her, and that guy would have found another way!"

"Or, someone else would have, Ron." Sara said quietly. "Her weakness was her heart, and if one villain could figure how to exploit it, others would have, too. Permanent? The only way to make Kim 'permanently' safe would have been to get her out of the hero business altogether!"

"If that's what it takes!"

"Ron! No, that's not right!" Wade cried, "Kim was who she was, there's no way to change that!"

"Well, he could convince his younger self to pop the question, keep Kim 'barefoot and pregnant', though I wouldn't expect that to work, not then. Otherwise, you'd have to do something physical, wouldn't you? But would she then still be the Kim you're devoted to, Ron?" Sara stared Ron in the eyes as he stood, unresponsive. He finally looked away. "You just actually thought about it, didn't you? Hurting her, I mean." Wade just looked at Ron, appalled. "Well, that's how much you've changed, Ron! Not sure your judgment is all that good, any more!"

A long minute's silence followed. "You didn't say who else you sent back, who else you believed would do it the way you wanted!" Ron said, keeping his eyes downcast.

Wade's eyes narrowed, then he gave a sharp nod and replied, "Shego." Ron spun to face him, a mixture of emotions, shock, anger, incredulity all warring on his face. "Shego!? Shego was killed eleven years...Did you help her, did you hide her!?"

"No! I was responsible, or partly responsible, for that death warrant hanging over her head, I had an opportunity to prove she wasn't an accomplice to that assassin, just a dupe, and I let it pass, I don't know why!"

"I hunted her for nearly a year, trying to arrest her!" Ron yelled, "Anyone else I should know about, that you kept hidden from me?"

"You may have wanted to 'arrest' her, but did your teammates? Not likely! And I didn't hide her, I stumbled across her by accident, and helped her out of guilt. I didn't admit what I'd done, but I offered her the opportunity to go back, if she gave her word to help Kim, first and foremost!"

"And you trusted her word, but not mine?!" Ron snapped out.

"If you want to put it that way, yes."

"And she apparently failed, as well, and left no trace." Sara commented. "Ron, the question is still, can you risk that I'm telling the truth? Can you risk doing that much harm, for the _possibility_ of saving Kim from her fate?"

Ron was silent for more than a minute. Even Wade seemed to be paralyzed, waiting for his reply. "I have to, it's the way I'm wired!" He turned to Wade. "Are you with me? Just the two of us? No waiting to build a robot, set the machine a couple more years back, and we go?"

"No explosives going with you, Ron, do without, or don't go!" Sara's voice gained an edge.

Ron glared at her momentarily, but then nodded. "Don't need them, I have a plan!"

Wade's face was a mix of fear and hope. "Really?" Ron nodded, but Sara's voice added a cutting bite of sarcasm, "Make it up as you go along, maybe? Lot of lives resting on that, Boys!"

"It's worked before!" Ron retorted. He then turned to Wade. "Well? We going, or not?" Wade hesitated, fear still undiminished, but then he nodded. "Let's go! I'll reset the target date!" He looked at Sara. "Can you give me an exact date for this so-called 'judgment'?"

Sara sighed, "Exact? No! But, within sixty days of Kim's nineteenth birthday is about right, before or after, somewhere inside that four month span."

Wade finished inputting the data, then turned to Ron, gesturing at the doors to the transmission chamber. "After you!" Ron nodded, and stepped inside. Wade flipped one last switch on the console, then hurriedly jumped inside, as the chamber doors closed.

"_Dammit, Ron! That's strike Three!"_ Sara dropped back into the swivel chair. She looked up as the humm from the time machine began to build. "This isn't going to be pretty!" She spun her chair so her back was to it.

The humming continued to build, then there was a sharp _crack_. A steel sphere mounted above the machine shimmered and vanished, and a very naked Ron Stoppable and Wade Load appeared ten feet in front of the chamber doors. They both looked at each other in shock, then both spoke at once, "You forgot to switch the cables back!"

"_I'd call Jinx!, but I'm not going to be around long enough to collect, anyway!" _Sara thought. To Ron's cry of "Where are our clothes?", she replied, "In the chamber, disintergrated, or being tried on by a Cro-Magnon man for size, I'm not completely sure!" Sara suddenly spun in her chair, buttoning up her jacket. Moments later, the doors flew open, and in rushed two security guards, weapons drawn.

(Somewhere in time and space, several pink somebodies were having quite a laugh at this moment!)

"Mister...Load?" The lead guard managed to stammer out, while his partner stared in blank astonishment.

"Little accident with the test equipment, maybe a practical joke, we're not sure!" Sara said, addressing the guards. Regarding her, they both frowned suspiciously.

"Marty, do me a favor?" The senior guard looked at Wade, "Cancel the alarm, before more guards get here, this is embarrassing enough!" After a moment's hesitation, the guard nodded, and complied. When he was done, Wade relaxed slightly. "Thanks, Marty! Now, I need one of you to go to my office, and get that overnight bag I keep packed for sudden trips?" They both nodded their understanding. "And please bring it here!" The younger guard left, but Marty was more than curious.

"Mister Load, there isn't any testing scheduled, and your own rules..."

"Private Demonstration, Marty! And secret! You can say you saw Mister Stoppable here, but as far as anyone else is concerned, the lady was never here, okay?" Marty wasn't dumb, but he knew about these 'private demonstrations', too. Private as in Government agencies whose interest had to be confidential. And besides, if it _was_ something kinky, Wade was the boss, and the paychecks were generous, so..."Got it, Mister Load!"

Conversation was on hold until the younger guard returned with Wade's bag. They both left as their boss began to dress. "I don't know if my stuff will fit you, Ron."

Ron glowered at Sara, who averted her eyes, as he replied, "I've got a change of clothes in my bag."

"Had to have, couldn't run around in that black outfit all the time, could you, Ron?" Sara commented.

"You did that on purpose!" he exploded back, "Got us so distracted, we forgot the sabotage! I'll even bet you did that, yourself!" Sara rolled her eyes, but Ron cut off her reply, "But it's not stopping me! Wade, reset again, I'll change the cables!"

"Right!" Wade started typing one handed on the keyboard, while buttoning his shirt with the other. Ron waded in among the cables again. "Blue 7, yellow 3, right?" When both Sara and Wade answered in the affirmative, he looked suspiciously at the woman, but switched the cables, anyway. He then picked his way out, and returned to the chamber doors. "Ready?" He asked Wade. Wade nodded.

"Um, Wade?" Sara called out, "Will it work without...whatever that sphere that used to be up there was?" She pointed where the item in question had vanished. Wade looked, and his jaw dropped. "Oh, No!"

"What! What happened, was this more sabotage?" Ron asked frantically.

"It doesn't matter, it's gone! And we can't replace it, Jim and Tim built that part!" Wade's head drooped, dejected.

"But, you can rebuild it, right?" Wade shook his head, and Ron grew more strident, "Why Not?!"

"Because the Tweebs built it, and they kept half the details for it in their heads! You don't know how hard it was to get them to write a proper Patent application, Ron! I didn't even dare disassemble it to test, because I may have not been able to reassemble it!" He walked over to another chair and slumped into it. "I'm sorry, but being a genius doesn't mean you understand other geniuses!"

Ron just stared at him for several minutes, occasionally glancing at the machine, and Sara. "Can you figure out a way to make it work, Wade?"

"Maybe, But it might take years, Ron!"

"Not how I wanted the decision to be made, but there it is!" Sara stood up. "Sorry, Ron, but you can't go back to save Kim, now!" She was reaching to take up her cloak when Ron spoke.

"I Can't, but you can!"

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Author's Note: I have the ending in mind, the fifth separate ending I've thought of for this, but I think it's decided. This has been a hard thing to do, I've rewritten it twice, and twice had a power failure in the middle of it, I kid you not. Recovered the chapter both times, but I was wondering if I was getting a message.

Again, this story will not involve an actual trip back in time, it was meant to examine Ron's dedication to Kim, and how far it went, how much he would risk. Sort of strayed from that idea, but we'll see.

Please, Read and Review


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kim Possible, or any of the other characters from that show, or those from any media I may reference in my stories.

Belated reply to Stubbs101: The original Earth in her explanation is fixed, all variances from that Earth are at risk.

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Sara winced, and dropped her cloak back onto the chair. _"Almost got away before that one popped into his head!"_ Straightening up, she slowly turned to Ron. "Me?"

"Well, according to you, you wouldn't cause the creation of any parallel world, right?"

Sara shook her head. "No, but why would I be willing to do that?"

"You said yourself Kim would be worth the effort!" Ron replied, with an uncertain smirk on his face.

"No, I said I didn't _disagree_ that Kim might be worth an effort!" She rocked on her heels for a moment. "But, if I did agree, what did you have in mind, exactly? My way, whispering in your younger self's ear, that is, or your way?" She gestured at the kitbag. "I mean, I know which way I would prefer, and don't see any reason you would expect me to do it your way!"

Ron's look became a little smugger. "I don't know, you seem to have used violence in the performance of your mission!" Sara frowned, and Ron continued, "I can smell the powder smoke on you, you used those guns on your mission!"

"Ah!" Sara nodded. "Actually, you're wrong! I accomplished my mission with stealth, the shooting was a personal indulgence, though justified by my secondary objective, to try and make sure everyone's lives remained the same afterwards. And, I only shot one person, and saved someone, or two someones, a lot of suffering and angst!"

Ron frowned dubiously. "Lot of bullets for one person! You smell like you were in a major firefight!"

"I wasn't the only one shooting, Ron. And, I said I only shot one _person,_ as in, one 'living' person, there were other targets available!"

"But..." Wade spoke slowly, "By saving those people that suffering, you may have changed their lives, because that suffering may have caused them to make different choices later in life!"

Sara nodded. "Agreed! But, I didn't change the history of the world, and I believe I made those people's lives better for the immediate future. Won't know for sure until I get home and re-read Ron's account of events, if he still wrote one! Like to see how he interpreted my alter-ego's presence!"

"How do you know you didn't change world history?" Wade asked.

"Because if I had, someone else would have appeared to stop me, as soon as I accomplished my original mission! One of the benefits of working for the people I do, they can have 'do overs', as long as they don't change fixed cardinal points...Uh, that's too much info, sorry! Anyway, another Agent would have stopped me, and that's a fact!" Sara suddenly scowled slightly as she studied Wade, who appeared distracted.

She turned her attention to Ron. "Look, I know how devoted you two were to each other, maybe too well! In almost every case of one of you dying young, it was sacrificing yourself for the other! Hell, you even managed to do it together, once!" At their puzzled looks, she explained. "Some kid tried to commit suicide in the Middleton Mall with a hand grenade, and you both ended up jumping on it when it got loose! Side by side, with the grenade sandwiched between you, most people say both of you had the same last word, 'No!' when you both realized the other was going to die, too!"

Sara cast a calculating glance at Wade who was staring at the floor. _"Need something fantastic, but true, to test my theory! And if I'm right, I was fool not to anticipate it!" _Aloud, she addressed him, "Don't be jealous, Wade! She took a bullet or two for you, even went to prison for you, in a manner of speaking!"

Wade's head shot up. "To prison? For me? Why?"

"Actually, it was a big misunderstanding, but Kim paid for it! Someone was hacking Federal servers, and a list of suspects was too widely distributed. Some prosecutor in Middleton decided to impress his bosses with his impartiality by bringing in the famous teen heroine's boy genius for questioning. So, he grabbed four Marshals, and headed to your place. Now, my source for this is a diary Kim started keeping her second year in prison, so I only know what she wrote, so some of it might be sugar-coated!" Ron was scowling at this sudden story-telling, but nodded his understanding without quite realizing it.

"Anyway, your Mom wasn't home, and you were slow to answer the door, so the boss decided to break in, supposedly before you could destroy evidence! You'd think he'd have known better. Anyway, that set off an alarm, and Kim came running. By the time she got there, two Marshals were arguing with the boss, the other two were trying to drag you out of the house, and you were having a full-blown panic attack!" Wade winced at that revelation. "So, Kim tried to reason with the boss, and apparently got no satisfaction, so she tried to stop the pair of Marshals trying to drag you out. And somehow, one of them took a fall, and was seriously injured. It was an accident, but it still constituted 'Interfering with Federal Officers, Resulting in Injury to a Federal Officer', or at least that's what she was finally charged with! By the way, the FBI Cyber-Crimes Unit cleared you as a suspect twenty minutes after Kim was booked!"

"I have no record of the judge's deliberations, I believe he could have suspended the sentence on simple 'Interference', but I may be wrong. But the injury part apparently required mandatory incarceration. So, Kim served four years, in two separate prisons." Sara behaved as if she considered the story finished, but was actually waiting for an excuse to continue. Which she received quite quickly.

"Why two prisons? Why was she transferred?" Ron asked, almost reluctantly.

Sara's expression soured. "Well, the first one was...bad for Kim." Ron nodded, "I can imagine!" _"No, you can't, Ron!" _"Then the Warden of a different prison requested Kim be transferred to her facility. Which was both better, and worse, for her, in some ways."

"Worse how?" Ron asked.

"No visitations by family or friends, only video recordings exchanged, and that was exclusively for Kim to initiate, if she chose."

"Huh? What? What about her rights? Didn't she have the right to see her family?"

"After meeting the Warden, her parents waived those rights on her behalf." Ron's eyes bulged, and his face reddened, but Wade got words in first. "Since when does a Warden get to request a prisoner transfer?"

"Well, this one had leverage, and was determined to help Kim!" Sara raised a hand to forestall their questions. "In the sixties, the British Government had a deal with a certain individual to maintain a very special prison for them. No one ever escaped, unless they were allowed to. Anyway, the US Government found out about it, and got jealous! They couldn't get the individual to break his contract with England, so they set out to see if there was another like him around. And they found one, this one female, and entered into a contract with her. Which happened to be up for renewal, just when she needed that leverage to help Kim!"

Wade frowned, "But why didn't they just replace her as Warden?" Sara noticed his eyes darting away from her briefly, before focusing on her as she replied. "Heh, without her, there was no prison, Wade! Can't really explain, just trust me! Anyway, the Government did _not _want to make alternate arrangements for the prisoners, so they caved in, with bad grace, to be sure. They couldn't afford to let the world know some of the people in that place were even still alive, nevermind guests of the Good Ol' USA! You see, everyone in there, except Kim, was officially 'dead', and most were foreign nationals. There were two sections to the prison, one for solo prisoners, and one for families."

"Families!? You mean, kids, and all?" Wade was appalled. Ron didn't seem to be anywhere near as shocked, but he was obviously skeptical.

"Yep! And when Kim...adjusted to the new place, she became sort of a trustee, and worked with the children. Wasn't all smooth, either. Some of the parents didn't like her 'influence', especially those from strict cultures. But the Warden told them there was nothing in their agreements with the United States that guaranteed their authority over their kids would not be challenged, merely that they would not be separated from them!"

"They wanted their children in prison with them?!" Wade was truly shocked, now.

"Yeah, well, in some cases, the children weren't safe anywhere outside, and didn't qualify for other protection programs. But sometimes, it was just selfishness on the part of one or both parents! And of course, it was hard for Kim to leave them, when her sentence was ended. In her last diary entry, the Warden offered to let her come back, but only after spending a year back out in the world before she decided. Kim left the diary with the Warden, and never wrote in it again, so I assume she didn't return."

Ron shook his head grudgingly. "I wouldn't be too sure about that!" Sara shook hers in turn. "Ron, if she had, she would have seen her family, at most, one or two days a year, and don't ask me to explain that! I know she was good, but that's too much of a sacrifice! There was no emergency leave for employees, and besides, she couldn't have been there _as_ an employee, because she had a criminal record! I have no idea how the Warden could have arranged it. No, I think she had to let them go, but I'm sure she told them the truth when she left."

Ron didn't look happy with that answer, and came up with another question. "What happened to this 'prison' and it's Warden, and where was it located?"

"She got tired of running a prison, and when her contract expired in 2026, she closed it down. All the prisoners sentenced there were dead by then, and she made sure the surviving family members were allowed to establish lives for themselves."

"What about the British one?" Wade cut in, before Ron could repeat his request for a location. "Oh, Him! He got tired of it, too, and quit in the mid seventies. Then he went and opened an exclusive resort island somewhere, and I've heard some truly weird tales of what went on there! And, for the record, these prisons only ever existed on one earth, and this isn't it, Ron!" She turned to Wade, who was distracted again. "So, Wade, how'd I do? How did your little lie detector score that story?" Wade looked up in surprise, mouth agape. "Yep, Thought so! Foolish of me not to think you'd have something like that around!"

Ron was also surprised, and immediately cycled through a dozen questions, before he spat out one. "Was she telling the truth? This story, first, was it true?" Wade took a moment to marshal his thoughts. Then he nodded. "If my machine is working, she's telling the truth!"

"It's working, Wade, trust me!" Sara grinned. "Let me guess, contact lenses, specially treated, and a holographic display somewhere over there, visible only through the lenses?" Wade managed a stunned nod. "You must have had a spare set of lenses in your overnight bag, the first pair went bye-bye when you tried to use the machine!" More sullen then stunned now, Wade nodded again. Then he mustered his courage. "You haven't been completely honest with us, Sara!" Ron perked up slightly at that.

"Of course not! I told Ron at the outset, giving someone like you too much knowledge of how this all works would be foolish, in the extreme! But, what _important_ parts did I lie about? The fact that you'd make a parallel world by doing this, and that it would most probably die, with all it's people? Because, that's the issue here, after all! Did I lie about those things?"

Wade screwed up his face in a grimace, but slowly shook his head. "No, you told the truth about that!" Ron's face fell. "And you believed it when you said our plans would probably fail to stabilize the world in question, but you lied about some things! The story about the multiple spaceships was a lie! And your story of how unstable worlds end was, too"

Sara nodded. "Yes, it was! But it sounded better than the truth! No one survives unstable worlds, Wade, because they do not open to the universe until they become unique. They're trapped in a big bubble of space, that some things enter, but nothing escapes! Things that get in include solar radiation, but what usually bypasses the Earth, but passes within the confines of the 'bubble' is in fact trapped in it, and builds up over time. I'll let you figure out the rest, Wade!"

"But do that later, I want to discuss one thing here and now! You knew I told the truth, yet you got in that machine, practically knowing you were going to create a doomed world, why?"

Wade couldn't answer, and kept looking back and forth between Ron and Sara, who finally spoke up, leaning close to Wade as she did. "Because, you were willing to do that just so you could live in that happy time for a few years? Watching the younger versions of yourselves enjoy a possibly happier time, if you managed to save Kim? Now, if that's not selfish, what is?"

She straightened, and strolled over to the machine. "I'm not going to do it, for the reason I gave you earlier, I might only be postponing the inevitable, the next villain to set Kim up through her weaknesses. If I thought I could guarantee she'd have a long and happy life...No, not going to do it!" She walked back over and looked at Ron. "It's too much to ask, because I can't stay to watch over her, and something even worse could happen to her, or her loved ones. So, any other bright ideas?"

Wade's eyes widened, and he blurted out, "You could bring her here!"

Sara blinked, and looked at him. "I was talking to Ron, and asking for 'bright' ideas! What are you talking about?"

"You could go back, and bring her here! Before anything really bad happens!"

Sara's eyes widened. "And let Ron die?"

"No!" They both shouted at once. Then Ron continued, "There's a point, where I'm safe, and before Kim pays for it, where you can save her by bringing her here! Wadester, you're a genius!" He clapped Wade on the back, then turned to Sara. "All you'd have to do is go back, and grab her, and bring her back here!" He failed to register Sara's sudden frown at his choice of words.

She stared at them a moment, then shook her head. "Sorry, boys, I can't take passengers with me, my device works for me, and me alone! So, I can't do that, even if I agreed, so that idea's shot!"

"I have a Beacon!" Wade almost bellowed. Sara winced, "Of course you do! What self-respecting Scientist experimenting in Time Travel wouldn't have a beacon?" She muttered sarcastically as Wade dashed to a nearby cabinet, and worked a combination. He opened the cabinet and pulled out a metal wand about two feet long with two small boxes attached to it.

Returning to Sara, he held it out to her. "Just take It back, plant it on her, and I can bring her here! It's preset for Possible DNA, it's perfect!"

"'Plant' it on her? Think she might notice it?" Sara's eyes went out of focus, then she squeezed them shut, reaching up and pressing hard on both temples. "Ack! Mad Paradox! Let's see, this machine only exists because it was built to go back and save Kim, so if Kim simply disappears, does it get built? However, it theoretically exists until the beacon activates, but then? Damn! This makes my head hurt!"

She straightened up. "I have a major objection, based on your choice of words, guys! 'Grab her', and 'plant it on her'? Both imply doing it without her consent, which I won't do! If I do this, I'm telling her the whole story, why I'm doing it, who asked me too..."

Both men were shaking their heads. Again, in sync, they cried "No!" This time, it was Wade who went on, "She wont agree, if you tell her!"

"Why not? I mean, once Ron is 'safe', why wouldn't she avoid her fate? Because there was more at stake then Ron's safety, right? More she felt needed to be done, whatever the consequences? Well, that was her decision, and I respect it!"

She took up her cloak again, and donned it. "You know, maybe I will do something! Maybe I'll go back and practice my backhand, send the Tweebs back to this place and time, before they actually create their parallel world! Give them a chance to face the families they left fifteen years ago! Or Shego! No, she'd still be under that Death sentence, wouldn't she?" Wade flinched.

She picked up her scarf and wrapped it around her neck, then pulled it up to cover the lower half of her face. "Of course, maybe I'll save Kim, and you'll see her walk out of that machine sometime, and can try and explain yourselves, and your choices..." Ron flinched, this time. "And let her see what her absence, and that of her brothers, who went after her, has done to her parents!" Both men looked alarmed at that.

Sara picked up her hat and settled it on her head. "But let me tell you this. There are some who judge people by their legacies, some who even judge by the combined legacies of all our various copies! Kim isn't a saint in all the worlds, in fact she was downright evil in a couple! But, in general, any legacy based on her actions in life is quite an exemplary one!"

"However, our legacies are also based on those we inspire, their actions, and the consequences of those actions! And, selfish as your motives may be, as determined as you are to declare your actions to be your own responsibility, they still reflect on the legacy of Kim Possible! And to sully such a legacy for selfish reasons is, in my opinion, a thing of evil!" She pulled down her hat's brim to cover her eyes, and her voice changed to the sinister, male voice Ron had first heard, "And who would know that better then me!" The low, mocking laugh echoed again through the Lab, and the cloaked figure walked into the shadows cast by some of the equipment and vanished.

"Lights, Full power!" Wade shouted. But when the laboratory brightened, and all shadows were banished, there was no sign of the woman. He shrugged helplessly, then turned to Ron, who stood there, lost in thought. "I think we both need a stiff drink, and I have what we need in the office, come on, Ron!" Ron started when Wade touched his arm. "Huh? Oh, yeah, a drink might be good!" He looked up where the missing piece of the time machine had rested. "You can fix it, right? I Mean, if she sends the Tweebs back, or even if she doesn't?"

Wade looked back and forth between Ron and the machine. "Sure, Ron, but if the boys come back, I don't think they'll leave again, not after they see what's happened since they vanished!"

Ron nodded, as Wade led him from the room. "'Sokay, All I need is me, for what I have planned!" Wade had a worried expression on his face as they went out the main doors, switching the lights off as they went.

Moments after the doors shut, a patch of shadows suddenly thickened, and Sara stepped into the center of the laboratory. She removed a small device from one pocket, and pointing it into the air near the center of the room, pressed a key. A small, spherical device appeared out of thin air, and moved down and towards her. She caught it, studied it a moment, then pocketed it.

She then moved hurriedly to the time machine, pulling another device out. She pushed several buttons on this one, then threw it into the air over the machine, where it abruptly stopped, with a soft 'clank'. Moments later, a spherical shimmer appeared where the 'missing' section of the machine had been located, and there was a soft implosion of air. "Sorry, boys!" She whispered, "You both have legacies, too, and if I can stop you from smearing them, I will!"

She turned once again towards the most deeply shadowed part of the room, walked into it, and vanished.

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To walk out of a shimmering portal in a large, well-lit room, in another time, and place. Two flat, disc-shaped platforms hovered at waist height next to her, and two blue robed figures stood watching her with anticipation. She sighed as she regarded them, and began to remove her outfit. "Before I tell you, can you tell me how my mission turned out?"

"It was successful." Was the reply, "But, I see you deprived 'me' of a little personal satisfaction, there!"

"Satisfaction 'you' paid a price for, later, Shego!" Sara looked at the other figure, as she pulled out the sphere she'd retrieved last. "Sorry, Kim, he failed, again!" Wincing as the girl's shoulders slumped, she tossed the sphere to Shego. "There's the recording, see for yourself!"

She continued to disrobe, as the other two inserted the sphere into a viewer and began to watch. She placed her clothes on one platform, and her gadgets, of which there were a great many, and her guns on the second. She let out a long sigh of relief when she released the band binding her breasts, and she began rubbing at the various red marks on her body, while stretching and bending to get some circulation going in some pinched off places. She had time for a quick grin when she saw Kim blush at the time machine mishap, but it vanished at the increasingly discouraged expression on her face.

By the time she was wrapped in her own robe, the others were done watching the accelerated video. "It's not a fair test..." Kim began.

"Whoa! Don't start, Princess! You agreed, we'd try this three times, we helped you convince the bosses, and Sara went and performed the tests, do NOT start again!" Shego stood behind Kim, holding both her shoulders firmly.

"But, it's not my Ron!" Kim protested, "My Ron wouldn't..." She trailed off.

"It's the closest match we could find, all of them were, Kim!" Sara declared, "I'm sorry, but we can't let Ron, your Ron, any Ron, join us, because if something happened to you on a mission, and Ron had an Agent's powers, there's no telling what he'd do, if not immediately, then sooner or later!"

"I just wanted to have him with me, again!" Kim said in a plaintive voice, the voice of a little girl. Shego turned her head and tried to hide the tears in her eyes.

"I know, Kim, and I'm sorry! But we did the fairest test possible, and the results will not satisfy the bosses, they won't take the risk!" Sara said, pleadingly. After a minute's silence, Kim nodded. "I know." she said, her voice slightly firmer.

A set of doors opened, and a very tall man entered. Possessed of a high forehead, and thinning dark hair, he had piercing gray eyes, which swept the room, and wore a black and gray set of robes. His eyes settled on Sara, though he certainly took in both Kim's, and Shego's condition. "Back, are we? And so quick to report in, as well!"

"What, did you want me to march up there naked?" Sara asked, archly.

"It wouldn't be unexpected of you, young lady!" He made a gesture at the two floating platforms, and they and their burdens slid past him and out the doors. "Well, your official verbal report can wait. I take it your other approved activities have been concluded?" Sara nodded solemnly. "And unsuccessfully?" Sara nodded again. Kim started to speak, but held her tongue, as Shego squeezed her shoulders lightly. "A shame, and I do mean that, Kimberley." Kim nodded acknowledgment. "Well, I'll see you all later, then! Get some rest, we never have a shortage of work for you all!" He turned and left, the doors closing behind him.

Shego regarded Sara curiously. "So, you weren't responsible for that entertaining bit of sabotage?" Sara was just shaking her head, when the doors opened again to reveal their supervisor. "Ah, Sara, I forgot to mention, you had a mysterious delivery!"

"Sir?" Sara's face showed complete confusion.

"Well, it wasn't delivered mysteriously, of course, but the sender is anonymous!"

"What was it, Sir?"

"Ah, well! According to the scanners, it is a quite superb selection of vintage cheeses! I don't know who your admirer is, but they have excellent taste!" He turned and exited again, leaving Sara standing slack-jawed with astonishment. Kim and Shego regarded her with curious concern. "Sara? You Okay?" Kim asked.

Sara's jaw snapped shut, and a flush spread through her cheeks. "Okay! That's it! Game on, whoever you are! I'm going to find out who you are, no matter what it takes!" She marched out the door, snapping a quick "Later!" to Kim and Shego.

As the doors shut behind her, Kim uttered a befuddled "What?", before her shoulders again slumped beneath Shego's hands. "I never meant to affect Ron that way, Shego! I mean, there are many worlds where he was able to move on, after I was gone!"

"When he lost you as a man, yes! Or, when your death was something he couldn't change, even with time travel! But, he isn't consistent, Kim, and the bosses are right, with our power... you know what would happen to him if the bosses had to stop him, don't you? You don't want to risk that, do you?"

"No, I wouldn't risk that! No, I wouldn't risk a world for Ron, like he would for me! I know that, and I can't decide whether that makes me, or him, right! That's what hurts the most, Shego, I wouldn't go as far for him, as he would for me!" Kim turned to face Shego, looking her in the eye, and noting the tear streaks on her cheeks.

"But you'd give your life and soul to save him, or others, even complete strangers, Kimmie, that's one reason you're here. Ron would sacrifice anyone, especially himself, for you. Lucky Sara didn't tell him the 'easy' way to stabilize a world. The one that doesn't make any scientific sense, that is! No, not luck, she knew better!"

"You don't think he'd do that for me, would he? Shego, I can't believe he'd sacrifice his younger self, erase his life, for me!" Kim almost seemed to be pleading with Shego to agree.

"Believe it if it makes you feel better, Kimmie! I'm sorry you insisted on these tests, they let you see something dark inside Stoppable! You'd have been better remembering him as you saw him then, when you were young, and had that bright future before you. You can't get innocence back once you've lost it, nor give it back once you've taken it." She hugged the girl, kissing the top of her head. "Come on, let's get that rest, we'll have missions soon enough, and I don't want you distracted by this when you go. After all, ever wonder what Sara or I'd do, if something did happen to you? Damn lucky they didn't test us, before giving us these jobs!"

Kim nodded tiredly. "Thank You for being such good friends! I'd never make it here without someone from my old life to talk with! I mean, I know I'm doing good things, but I can't just live for that, like I once believed I could!"

"Don't let this eat at you, your Ron will have a good life, he's got family, a girl who'll help him adjust to losing you, and no one trying to exploit his loss. But bring him here, let him be with you again, and maybe lose you? Or, you lose him, and blame yourself for bringing him here? If we die on these missions, we're dying alone, Kimmie, you'd never forgive yourself if that happened to Ron, and you know it!"

Kim breathed a deep sigh. "You're right! I was being selfish again, wasn't I?"

"If I say yes, will you get mad?"

"Probably!"

Shego chuckled. "Well, since we're supposed to be resting, not working out, guess I won't agree then! Come on, Princess, saving the world, or worlds, in this case, requires being wide awake, so lets get you into your bed!"

"Oh, I get to sleep in _my_ bed tonight?"

"Kimberley Anne Possible, whatever are you implying?"

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Well, Maybe not the best way to end this, kind of ambiguous, but I couldn't come up with an idea I entirely liked, so hopefully this one will suit you all.

Please, Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

I listed this as complete, and haven't been happy since. So, in answer to some pleas of confusion, and because an idea bit me, I'm adding on this chapter.

Thanks to Stubbs101 and the defenastrator for their reviews, as well as Krebs,

and even Jason Barrett, to whom I responded rather too defensively.

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When the Supervisor reached his own rather spartan office, dominated by a viewport which took up one whole wall, and revealed a spectacular view of space outside, itself dominated by Mars, around one moon of which they were orbiting, he found a visitor waiting.

A tall, distinguished looking man wearing a plain gray robe was gazing at the red planet, hands clasped behind his back. Though certainly aware of the Supervisor's entrance, he didn't turn around until that worthy spoke.

"Sir! What a pleasant...honor, to have you here!" His eyes narrowed slightly, "Though I must of course be a bit apprehensive to find the Chamberlain unannounced in my office?"

"Perhaps you should, my dear friend!" the Chamberlain replied, with a patient smile, "I'll let you decide that, after we've discussed my reason for being here."

The Supervisor gestured to two seats away from the desk, and let his guest choose his first, before seating himself. The Chamberlain studied his face for a moment, before speaking. "Tell me, what is this business that preoccupies the attention of three of your best agents of late?"

"Ah! Well, I would hardly say preoccupied, Sir, they have not been kept from fulfilling their mission quotas. Only Sara actually engaged in any travel, the others were only interested in the results of the tests performed."

The Chamberlain nodded. "And the purpose of these 'tests'?"

The Supervisor paused to frame his reply. "One of my Agents, Kimberly Anne Possible, requested an evaluation of her childhood friend and companion, Ron Stoppable, with a view to making him an Agent. The main concern I had with this was Stoppable's devotion to her, and the wisdom of giving him an Agent's powers, lest something happen to her, and cause him to act irresponsibly."

When the Chamberlain merely nodded, the Supervisor continued. "The tests involved three alternate versions of Stoppable, who lost Miss Possible from their lives, and who had the opportunity to change things, via time travel. Sara gave each of them a sanitized version of how his actions could lead to suffering and death for untold numbers of people, to see if that would deter him. On three occasions, those facts did not discourage him. So, I reluctantly have informed Kimberly that I cannot approve Ron Stoppable as an Agent."

"I see, I see." The Chamberlain paused, then a slight frown appeared on his face. "Did Sara give away too much information, do you think?"

"Oh, No Sir! For instance, in the latest test, She withheld the time factor, because she suspected in advance that Wade Load had the capability to recall travelers from the past. If they had learned that it takes forty-five minutes for the duplication to become set, they might have been encouraged to try and change things sufficiently within that time frame, before returning to their future, and suffering the effects of paradox." He frowned. "Though actually, since the return would have had to activated from the 'future'...well, they theoretically could have done it, using Ron's plan to eliminate the threat, entirely!"

"As to her choice of which information to impart, If she had told them any falsehoods, Load would have known, since he had some form of lie detection mechanism in operation within the laboratory! She tested it by telling him a story that had to sound fantastic to them, in some ways, but was in fact true."

"And what story did she tell them?"

The Supervisor adopted a sheepish expression. "Well, she told them about you and your sister's experiments in...penal reform, back in the twentieth, and early twenty-first centuries."

The Chamberlain laughed. "Ah, Penal Reform, you say? Well, probably not what our inmates would have called it! She didn't mention my subsequent foray into the tourism industry, did she?"

"In passing, I believe she did, sir." The Chamberlain rolled his eyes. "Oh, I wish I could let that rest!" He became serious. "And she did not tell him about the 'Sacrifice' option?"

"Definitely not! That would have entailed some kind of explanation, as to how killing one's own past self would stabilize the world. I can think of no scientific theory, real or imagined, to account for that effect. And we certainly don't want them thinking that something beyond science is involved, do we?"

The Chamberlain shook his head. "Certainly not! It is ironic, though...the interpretation of that option is not as clear as it could be..." He slapped his knee. "Never mind that! This Kim Possible, you must consider her quite important, to indulge her so much! She is, after all, a rather limited Agent, and you brought her here so young! If you admired her talents so much, why not bring an older version of her into our fold, surely there were some eligible?"

The Supervisor frowned, and became defensive. "I wouldn't say I indulged her, there are some versions of Stoppable who would make a fine Agent, but...calling her limited is unfair, there are many others we have to carefully choose assignments for! She has completed every single one she's been assigned to, to my, and presumably your, satisfaction!" The Chamberlain gave a grudging nod in acknowledgment. "As to why I chose this particular Kim...of course there were several we could have extracted, where no corpse would have been expected to remain."

He looked out at the stars. "She saved a dozen lives that day, and there she was, sinking to her doom. She knew she'd eventually reach a depth where the pressure would crush the chamber she was in. She had no way to talk to anyone, no way to say goodbye, no chance to say goodbye. And she just sat there, no histrionics, no crying, nothing! She was just sitting there, calmly waiting for it to be over. Maybe I indulged myself, by saving her, but she has validated my choice, ever since!"

"I see. And this other Agent, Shego, Kim Possible recommended her?"

The Supervisor relaxed slightly, with a faint grin. "Not exactly. Better to say, we became aware of Shego, while observing Kim Possible, and when we vetted the idea of recruiting her to Kim, her reply...wasn't an objection."

"And they now have a relationship?"

"They sometimes sleep together, and their relationship is sexual on those occasions. But, she also sleeps with Sara occasionally, though that relationship is platonic, a comfort thing, really."

The Chamberlain nodded thoughtfully. "A 'comfort' thing, you say? That sounds as if Miss Possible has insecurities, to me. And how do the others feel about this arrangement of hers?"

"Well, she was only sixteen when we extracted her, and you know how long it sometimes takes for our Agents to change, sir. As to how she deals with loneliness, or other emotional problems, I find her method preferable to some that our other Agents indulge in. As to Shego and Sara, Shego displays no jealousy, for whatever reason, and trust me, if she was jealous, she'd show it. Sara considers Kim a little sister, and in fact, when Sara was young, she held her own little sister through the night frequently, to help her feel safe, so this behavior doesn't bother her at all." The Supervisor was now beginning to display his desire for the interview to ended, but the Chamberlain was obviously not finished.

"Tell me, my Friend, do you think these particular tests were fair, that the chosen subjects were appropriate?" As the Supervisor began to look defensive again, the Chamberlain raised a placating hand. "Please, don't think I am criticizing! What I mean is, were all the relevant factors in the young men's lives the same? For instance, when would you have extracted 'her' Ron?"

"He died in a plane crash at age thirty-two, so at that point, of course."

"And what was his life like in the intervening sixteen years?"

"Well, he married a fine young woman when he was twenty. But he lost her seven years later, to leukemia." The Supervisor was wary, as if he sensed where the conversation was going.

"And did he recover from that loss? Did any of the other Rons you tested suffer a similar loss, and recover from it?"

"They all suffered the loss of one or both parents, which I consider traumatic enough. And yes, he did recover from that loss, are you saying I should make more tests, find more compatible examples to test?"

The Chamberlain slowly shook his head. "No, my Friend. I think you should be honest with me, about why you made sure the test subjects chosen would fail."

The Supervisor began to protest, then closed his mouth and looked away for a moment. Then he heaved a deep sigh. "Because she would have been disappointed! She wouldn't have gotten the Ron she knew, she would have gotten a grown man who had gotten over losing her, as much as possible. And I'm not sure how fair it would have been to Stoppable, himself, to be honest. It could have ruined her, and I couldn't risk that! But neither could I refuse to appear to consider it seriously."

The Chamberlain nodded, and rose to his feet. "I thought as much." He walked over to the viewport, and resumed his original pose. "This Agency exists to prevent time travel being used to alter the destinies of nations, not individuals! Or, on very rare occasions, to affect Man's relationships with other races. But, I believe Sara may have sabotaged Wade Load's time machine, to prevent their using it again. And no, I'm not talking about the cable switch!" The Supervisor's head had snapped up, as he realized the Chamberlain knew more then he had let on.

"She cloaked part of their machine when they attempted to use it. And later, I have no doubt, she made sure the part actually 'disappeared', in fact! She tried to conceal this fact by disengaging the remote recorder before performing the second act, but I'm sure of my suspicions. In addition, I believe she indulged in some personally motivated violence while on her main mission!"

"Which had nothing to do with the desired outcome! I trust Sara, as much as any Agent, not to overindulge themselves!" He studied the Chamberlain's back shrewdly. "Are you planning on disciplining her?"

Silent for nearly a minute, the Chamberlain changed the subject. "Please contact our little friends, and ask them not to goad Sara, will you? You don't need her distracted by this little mystery. And then, I think you should give her a challenge to distract her." He seemed to consider the matter a moment, then continued, "The married couple with assassin's training. Who are going back to 1809, to gain Napoleon's trust, and persuade him not to invade Russia in 1812? That should keep her occupied. In fact, I think you should send Miss Possible along, she needs to do a team mission."

"Well, that may be hard for her, considering how many men died on that campaign, she might have a hard time..." He stopped as the Chamberlain turned towards him, face set in a stern visage. "Ah..."

"My friend, I agree Miss Possible cannot be sent back to, say, stop an assassin from killing Adolf Hitler, or to stop a man from preventing the assassination of John Kennedy. But, she must learn that history in general must be allowed to follow it's course! So, send her with Sara. And, warn the artificers that Sara will be taking a partner, I'm sure she'll have some unique idea of how they should present themselves."

The Supervisor looked dubious. "That could spoil their relationship, if Sara does something Kim cannot reconcile herself with, in pursuit of the mission. I mean, she _knows _that Shego probably does things she wouldn't approve of, but she can, and does, turn a blind eye to that."

The Chamberlain frowned. "I hadn't considered that, to be honest!" He sighed, shaking his head, "Still, she needs to face these things sooner or later. Even if she can't do some things, she should accept that others may have to, that they may even do it solely because she can't!"

The Supervisor nodded, reluctantly. "Very Well, I'll order the mission." He seemed lost in thought for some time, as the Chamberlain regarded him with a half-smile, clearly expecting something. "Sir, what did you mean about irony, earlier? And the 'interpretation' of the 'sacrifice' option?" The Supervisor finally asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Ah, That! Well, the sacrifice option only says the traveler has to cause the death of his past self, it does not say it must be deliberate!" When the Supervisor showed no signs of being enlightened, the Chamberlain chuckled. "You see, you should have checked on that particular world, and that particular Ron Stoppable, after Sara's visit! You see, four years later, He made a successful trip into the past, alone. He must have had some plan, but I know not what it was. Because, shortly after his arrival, he quite accidentally caused the death of his younger self."

The Supervisor's mouth gaped open. "But that means...that means, he stabilized that world, after all?"

The Chamberlain nodded. "Yes, indeed he did! But, he never knew of his success! You see, he couldn't deal with the result of his actions, the death of his younger self, and the obvious pain and grief it caused his family, and Kim Possible. Three days later, he took his own life, where his body would never be found."

The Supervisor's face betrayed the horror he felt. "Irony." He muttered, quietly.

THe Chamberlain nodded sagely, "Indeed. And Sara was proven right, as well. Once she got over her grief, Kim resumed her activities. Four years later, another foe exploited her weakness successfully, and there was no one to save her on that occasion." He walked over to the Supervisor and placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "He actually saved his Kim, for a time at least, and never knew it. Irony, Tragedy, a terrible mixture of both." He patted the Supervisor's shoulder. "I will talk to you later, my friend."

As the Chamberlain left, the Supervisor was lost in his own thoughts. Nearly ten minutes passed, before he suddenly shook himself, and rising, went quickly to his data terminal. He called up the records of the Earth in question, and studied them for several minutes.

"Only four years? But, in that time, she saved the lives of...well, I don't know how Ron would judge this exchange, two lives for this many, but I can't think he would consider his sacrifice entirely in vain."

He stood silently for a while, then called up the data on the 1809 mission. "Assistant, locate Kim and Sara, schedule a briefing involving this mission as soon as both are available. Do not interrupt either's rest, or whatever activities they might be indulging in at this time. Beginning of next shift will be fine."

"Acknowledged, Supervisor."

"Now, to find something for Shego to do, so she won't hang around here fretting while they're gone. Hmmm, another Presidential Assassination? That gives him six time traveler's who've tried, he's now in third place as most popular President to assassinate retroactively! Well, Shego likes the clothes from that period, at least! Assistant, schedule mission briefing for Shego, this mission, if you please! Same restrictions as before, beginning of next shift, Troy to brief her."

"Acknowledged, Supervisor."

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Well, orignally meant this as the end, but dammit, another chapter sprung forth in my mind. Ah, well, if I take it off 'Complete', maybe my ideas will dry up?

Please, Read and Review.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

Okay, this is annoying, I can't let this story rest. Even though I have no plans to continue it further, I've said that before, so I'll take it off 'complete'. Sometimes I just feel like writing a 'happy' ending.

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The Monitor on duty in the portal reception area was bored. Of course, to hold her job, one had to have a high tolerance for boredom, as periods of inactivity could be surprisingly long. The main alleviation of that state lately had been the three times the duty monitor had been ordered out of the room, while Agents Possible and Shego had stayed within, awaiting the arrival of Agent Sara.

Gossip and speculation aside, no one had the slightest idea what the whole matter was about, and that was as vexing for them as it had always been for such groups of people, close to exciting events, but not participants in them.

Now a warning tone sounded, causing the Monitor to look up at the shimmering portal. She also glanced casually at some of her instruments, then her gaze locked onto one, and she frowned. "Two subjects? That's not right!" Her hand moved to the never previously used alarm button, as she watched the portal for the first signs of the incoming arrivals. And then, they were just there. And her mouth dropped open.

One was clearly Agent Shego, done up in a 'flapper' outfit from the 1920s, her distinctive skin tone hidden by a disguise projector, which also falsely displayed her hair as cut short, in the style of the time. But besides her stood a stranger, who looked much the worse for wear.

He was blond, and slightly geeky looking, though his looks were currently marred by a massive bruise on the left side of his face, with that eye swollen shut. He wore a torn black turtleneck, and equally damaged khaki cargo pants. His left arm hung limply at his side, and he stood slightly hunched to that side, as he gazed around dazedly at his surroundings.

Looking at Shego, the Monitor pointed at the boy. "Is this Authorized?"

Shego blinked, and looked confused. Then she looked to her left, then to her right, directly at the boy. Her face then assumed a shocked look, hand to her throat, as if seeing the boy for the first time. She then turned her eyes to the Monitor, and assumed a new expression, some kind of pout, that made the Monitor uneasy. "He followed me home, can I keep him, please?"

At that point, the boy dropped to his knees, then fell face down on the floor. Shego regarded him for a moment, then looked at the Monitor. "Provided, of course, that the medical team you _should_ be summoning manages to keep him alive!"

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"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!!" The Supervisor bellowed practically in Shego's face. "What do you think the Chamberlain's going to think about this?" Then his face paled when that Worthy's voice sounded behind him. "The Chamberlain thinks that there had better be a good explanation for this, to spare you the suspense!" He strode up to Shego, now undisguised, and wearing her blue robes. Her face became as serious as it was possible for her to be, because she knew her limit, and ticking off the Chamberlain was a very bad thing to do.

"Did you not agree with your Supervisor's judgment that Ron Stoppable was unacceptable as an Agent, Miss Shego?"

"Oh, No! I totally agreed with his assessment! In fact, I agreed with it _before_ we wasted Sara's time on those tests! But, something did occur to me later, concerning Stoppable."

The Chamberlain crossed his arms and smiled benignly. "Really? And what, pray tell, great revelation did you experience?" His voice literally dripped with sarcasm.

Shego didn't buy the smile, but the sarcasm rang alarm bells in her head. "That we don't have to make him an Agent, to have him here! I mean, he's a sidekick! So, rather then give him the full powers of an Agent, we just give him enough to survive time travel, and use him to accompany other Agents into the past! I mean, if he isn't a true Agent, he can't travel on his own, or use any of the equipment, or even get into the archives. This way, Prin...Kim is happy, and we have a spare body around."

The Chamberlain nodded thoughtfully. "A Sidekick? Hmmm, an interesting idea, but didn't you notice that the bulk of our missions are done by solitary Agents?"

Shego shrugged. She couldn't tell if the sarcasm was still there, or not. "Yeah, but I also thought that was because we had so few Agents that we couldn't form teams?"

"Ah! Well, that is correct, in point of fact! However, why did you not at least consult your Supervisor, before undertaking these actions?"

Shego looked down at her toes, a sheepish expression on her face. "Well, I had picked a likely candidate, you understand, but I _wasn't_ planning to stop off and see him on this trip! But, the mission was over so quickly, I decided to see if I could time things correctly. So, there I was, on a burning cargo plane, watching him put the only good chute on an unconscious Kim, and push her out the hatch. With his broken arm, he couldn't rig anything to save both of them quickly enough, so he did what came natural, he saved Kim! And, I just couldn't leave him there like that!" She blushed slightly, "There goes my hard-bitten reputation!"

"You could have gone back to the same point, on another trip..." The Super began, then he winced, "Well, I mean a few seconds later, of course, to avoid crossing your own time line! You could have saved him then, why didn't you wait?"

Shego tried looking anywhere but at their faces. "I dunno, I just...I just couldn't!"

The Chamberlain kept his face stern with an effort. "I see! Well, young woman, for the moment you are under suspension, until we decide what to do about this!"  
He paused, then appeared to have a new thought. "Tell me, is it your idea that he be teamed up with Kimberley?"

Shego looked alarmed. "No, that wouldn't work at all! He could still muck things up, if she died on a mission with him, maybe hoping to force you to undo things, and save her! No, I just mean, they can be together between missions, it may help her get over her occasional bouts of immaturity, I think she hangs onto those behaviors because they represent her time with him, and she doesn't want to let that go!"

"I see, and do you think that giving her this 'Ron', not the specific one she knew, will work? They are nearly two years apart in biological age, two years he lived with 'his' Kim, that she didn't with 'her' Ron."

Shego looked uncertain, unsettled by the Super's dubious expression. "I think it will work, Sirs, if we let them get together. It's just something between them, a bond, that I don't think the age difference will break."

"And what of your own relationship with Miss Possible, Shego?"

Still uncharacteristically passive, Shego swallowed nervously. "I want Kim to be happy, Sirs, whatever it takes! Even if I end up getting hurt, myself."

The Chamberlain studied her face for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, as I have said, you are suspended, pending my decision on this matter. Go and see how your 'lost stray' is doing, I will send for you when I have made my decision."

As Shego nodded and turned away, he added. "Oh, one thing is for certain! If he does get to be anybody's sidekick on missions, it will be yours, my dear!"

Shego's eyes widened in alarm. "Um, Sir, he wouldn't be suitable for most of the missions I do, any more then Kim would be!"

The Chamberlain began to reply, then frowned. "Did you say 'most' of your missions?" He looked at the Super, who seemed puzzled, as well.

"Lately, yeah! Except for this last one, most of my missions of late have been to help stop people from preventing 'evil' things from happening in history." Shego studied their faces, looking for some clue to their interest.

The two men exchanged looks. "Really? Most unusual, for I believe regulations state clearly that no single Agent should get too many of those type of missions, unless they specifically request them. And I don't suppose you made such a request, Miss Shego?"

She shook her head emphatically in reply. "No, why would I ask for such assignments? You know I've changed my ways since I've been here! Helped, of course, by the Docs undoing the behavioral modification I underwent when I received my powers."

The Chamberlain nodded. "Of course, my dear. You may go, for now anyway."

As the door closed behind her, the Chamberlain tilted his head slightly. Somehow, he clearly heard her muttering beyond the door. "Stoppable as a partner? It's true what they say, 'No Good Deed goes unpunished!'" A slight smile appeared on the Chamberlain's face, but vanished instantly, as he looked at the Supervisor. "Find out about those mission assignments, will you?"

"At Once, Sir!" The Supervisor bowed slightly, then hurried out. Clasping his hands behind his back, the Chamberlain strolled over to a bench seat beneath the window, and sat down. After a few moments, he began to chuckle. "Sidekick? Well, why not?"

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"So, are you some kind of Time Cop?" Ron Stoppable asked, walking alongside Shego down a long corridor. He was now wearing white robes, denoting his lack of status, and flexing his left arm, amazed that it had been healed so completely and so quickly. His face also looked normal, though Shego's didn't. Her jaw had practically unhinged itself in response to his question.

"Me? A cop of _any_ kind? Did they check your brain for swelling, Stoppable? No, we don't just stop people who try and change things for the bad, we also stop those who try to change them for the better, or at least those who try to change the history of nations. If some guy wants to go back and save a family member, or a girlfriend...or boyfriend, _that_ we don't worry about. And before you point it out, yes, such a thing _could _lead to a major change in history, but we can't follow every possible permutation of such an action, we don't have time...I mean, really, we don't, relatively speaking. Am I making any sense?"

"Sort of." Ron answered distractedly. He patted his thigh. "Wish Rufus was here, though!"

Shego rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right! Really, don't have a clue how time travel would effect your molerat friend!" Suddenly they both halted, and looked at each other. "Did you hear..." Shego trailed off, but Ron finished for her, "..someone snicker?" They both looked around, but the corridor was deserted, and the ventilation shafts were far too small to hold anyone...human.

Eventually shrugging, they continued their walk. If they had stayed, perhaps they would have heard a sigh of relief. And perhaps a tiny version of the Chamberlain's voice, coming from one of the vents. "And the reason for your visit this time is?" Followed by a thump, as if something stood up in the vent too quickly.

"Anyway, are you planning to make me an Agent, as well?" Ron asked. Shego looked at him for a moment before replying, "No, we won't be. You see, we'd be afraid that if anything happened to Kim, fatal that is, on one of her missions, you'd abuse your powers to try and save her."

Ron's expression was neutral for a moment, but then he shrugged, "Can't argue with that logic!" He was startled when Shego gave a short, sharp bark of laughter, then shook her head, "Could have saved ourselves a whole lot of trouble, bringing you here in the first place, and letting you tell Kim that to her face!"

Ron's expression became uneasy. "Um, this Kim, she's not the same one I saved, is she? Wait a minute, can you tell me, did I save Kim? I was sure her chute deployed, but she was unconscious..."

"She survived, Stoppable, take it easy!" Shego replied, giving him her most sincere smile. _"She survived the landing, but one of the henchmen who jumped earlier got to her before she regained consciousness! But, his luck sure turned bad in a hurry, Sara's not the only one of us who indulges themselves occasionally!" _Her smile turned a little grim as Ron's attention wandered.

"How big is this place, and where is it? Anywhere near Middleton?" Shego almost choked trying not to laugh out loud. "Um, no, Ron, it's nowhere near Middleton!" Then her eyes widened, _"Doy! Called him 'Ron', what do you make of that?" _She looked to see if he'd noticed the slip, and found him just grinning at her. "In point of fact, we're orbiting one of the moons of Mars."

His grin froze on his face, and his eyes glazed over slightly. "Heh, good one, Shego!" He looked hopefully at her face, but only saw the same confident smirk he'd seen more then once back home. "You...you're just kidding, right?"

Five minutes later, Shego waved her hand in front of Ron's blankly staring eyes as he gazed out an observation port, watching Mars rising from behind the moon's horizon. "Some things forever remain the same!" She muttered. A chime sounded from her wrist comm. "Oooo, Kimmie's back!"

Ron snapped out of his fugue. "Kim? Where? Oh, wait, she's different, isn't she? What if she doesn't want a 'different' Ron? What do I say to her? Shego, what if she freaks out on me? I mean, are you and her lovers here?"

Shego's eyes bulged. "What! Where did that idea come from?"

Ron blushed. "Sorry, it's just that...just that back home, you were waiting for Kim to turn eighteen...oh, did I put my foot in, again?"

Shego blinked, then shook her head violently, "No, no, you're fine! Um, yeah, we do have...we are lovers, occasionally, but she doesn't 'sleep' with me. She does with Sara, though..." She noted Ron's widening eyes, and continued frantically, "No, not what you're thinking! With Sara, it's like a sister thing, she had troubles sleeping when she first came here...Oh, yeah, I suppose I should mention, she was sixteen when she was brought here, and we only age when we're off this station, so she hasn't...physically, aged that much."

"Oh, Man! I'm nearly eighteen, this might not work...however it's supposed to work!" They'd reached the door to the portal room, which hissed open to permit the passage of four transport disks, weighed down with a _lot _of clothing and gadgets. "Cool, what are those?" He asked, not stopping as he did, just turning and walking backwards as he watched the disks ascend out of sight.

"Oh, they're just..." Shego stopped, and her eyes bugged out, "Wait! Stoppable, we should wait out..._Oy Vey_!" Disks out of sight, Ron had spun back around, and froze like a deer in the headlights. Staring back at him with shocked looks on their faces were Kim and Sara, both nude, Kim apparently frozen in the act of trying to massage corset marks out of Sara's back. Then her eyes rolled up in her head, and she fainted dead away.

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"You could have warned us at the very least that you were even thinking about doing something like this!" Sara hissed at Shego, struggling into her robes as she did. A medic was talking to a recovering Kim, questioning her carefully about how she felt. Ron was back out in the hall, for the moment.

"I explained that! I wasn't planning to bring him back this trip, honest!" Shego responded contritely. "But, I couldn't leave him on that plane, even knowing I could save him another time!" Sara continued to frown for a moment, then shook her head and sighed. "I guess I can understand that, all things considered!" She walked back over to Kim, trailed by a nervous Shego.

Kim looked up at them. She had her robe wrapped around her torso for warmth. "Did I imagine...did I see Ron?" Her eyes suddenly locked onto the sickly grin which appeared on Shego's face, and a knowing look came into her eyes. "Shego, did you...you did, didn't you?"

"Hey, Princess, I didn't exactly plan it this way...'_boy is that an understatement!'_...but yeah, I got you a Ron, bargain price, hardly used, you know, just your kind of doofus."

Kim looked away, and began to sort out her robe, before pulling it over her head, and climbing to her feet. Shego waited nervously. Then Kim looked her in the eyes, stepped forwards, and hugged her. "Thank You! Even if...it doesn't work out well, Thank You for thinking of me!" Then she straightened, and looked back and forth between Sara and Shego. "But, what are we going to do with him?" she whispered. The medic had left, but the Monitor looked like she had big ears, and their 'tests' were supposed to be a secret.

"Well, we are short of janitorial staff..." Shego flinched as Kim's eyes began to bulge, "I kid, I kid! I suggested he might make a good...sidekick. No Agent powers, no mischief he can get into, if something happens to you. But, he won't be teamed with you, Princess."

"Sidekick? That's...um, interesting? And why not me? No, no, I know! He might mess with things in history, if we're on a mission together, and something happens! But, who is he teaming with, then?" She saw Shego beginning to blush, and suddenly snorted in amusement. "You?"

"A suitable punishment." Sara commented. She smiled sweetly at Shego's outraged look. "Come on, he's waiting, might think we're planning to space him, or something! Um, Shego, you did tell him we're in space, right?"

Ron was pacing nervously back and forth when the doors whisked open. His eyes came up to meet Kim's, and they both immediately blushed. "Heh, sorry about just walking in like that, KP! But, at least it's not the first time I've seen..." he smacked one hand over his mouth, as the three women directed suspicious looks at him. "Uh, maybe I didn't! I mean, maybe your Ron never saw you...uh, this place is big, but I bet there's no safe place?"

Kim smirked. "Not from me, Potential Boy! Calm down, we can have a nice chat, and find out what we do and don't know about each other, as soon as I'm done being debriefed, by the nice Supervisor walking up behind you." Ron's back stiffened up, and only his eyes moved, as he executed his normal defense against unexpected authority figures, freezing in an attempt to avoid notice. The Super didn't come into his field of vision, however, or speak, for whatever reason, but Kim and Sara walked past him, polite and serious expressions on their faces.

After watching them for a minute, Shego smacked Ron on the shoulder. "Come on, Stoppable, I'll show you the cafeteria. And no, no Bueno Nacho! Though, they do have authentic Mexican food there." Ron followed her, a dubious look on his face.

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Sara was reading in bed when her door chime rang. She checked the screen on her bedside console, and saw Kim standing outside. She pushed a button, and the door slid open. "Hey Kim! Kinda thought these sleepovers might be over, all things considered. Especially thought you might be thanking Shego for what she did." Kim had been walking towards the bed, but stopped when Sara spoke. Looking hesitant, she asked worriedly,"Is it still all right?"

"Oh, of course it is! I'm sorry, Kim." Sara pulled the covers aside. "Come on, it's fine!" Kim hesistated, then slid off her robe to reveal her knee-length nightshirt, an item Sara wasn't wearing, and slipped into the bed, laying with her back to the older girl, tucked almost into a fetal position. Sara smiled down at her and lowered the light level to near darkness, before spooning the girl, who slowly relaxed. It took her a few moments to start talking, however.

"Shego said...I shouldn't go to her anymore, until I'm completely sure I want to. And...I do, but I don't want her to think that I'm not thinking it over, so...I'm not sure what to do!"

Sara grinned. "I swear you two are truly high maintenance! Kim, Shego deals badly with insecurity, so tomorrow, you do what's necessary to show how you feel about her! If you want, I can clear the cafeteria, and you can jump her bones at breakfast!"

"Gah! No, I...seriously, I _do_ know what I want, but she's testing _me_, now, isn't she? Seeing if I'd rather have Ron?"

"Well, she's seen many alternate versions of you who did fall in love with Ron, marry, have kids, though not necessarily in that order, divorce, separate, attempt murder of each other, unsuccessfully, I might add, Become Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, etc, etc, etc!" Kim tried to twist her head enough to see if Sara was serious, then gave that up and rolled over. "Really? All those things? I've never broken the rule about looking at our own alternate selves' pasts."

"Yes, really! And I know you haven't, Pixie Scout! Oh, and let's mention marrying Josh Mankey, Brick Flagg...think you were drunk in Vegas that time, Um, becoming Wife Number Three to the Sultan of...better not mention where, not entirely sure that was consensual. Oh, Wife Number Two was Shego, so you had to take orders from her, if she gave any. And Bonnie something was Number One, so she could lord it over you both." Seeing Kim's eyes bulging in the darkness, her grin widened, "Well, you asked, or did you? Anyway, Shego needs to be sure of you, before she can trust you. She's definitely the higher maintenance of the two of you! But, she deserves that certainty, so put her mind at ease, as much as she'll let you, okay?" Kim rolled her eyes, but then solemnly nodded. She turned back over, and they resumed the spoons position, but Kim wasn't done yet.

"Sara, if I died on a mission..." Sara thought she knew what was coming, and was shocked when proven wrong, "...do you think the Supervisor would get another version of me as a replacement?"

"What! I, uh, I've never thought about that, to be honest!" Sara frowned, "That would kind of...cheapen things, in a way. Maybe he would, I really don't know, why?"

"I've heard some people talk, that he shouldn't have taken such a young version of me, I wasn't mature enough, all that. And sometimes I agree, that I'm childish some of the time. The whole Ron thing might be just that, couldn't it?"

"I suppose, but at least you recognize the fact. How is Ron, by the way? You spent hours talking to him, didn't you?"

Kim remained silent for a moment. "Before, when you came back from Ron's third 'test', Shego asked how I'd feel if I caused Ron to be brought here, and _he_ died on a mission. I didn't even consider it, really, it was a negative thought, so I ignored it. But now, it's really a possibility! And if he died, would they get another version of him, if he proved himself on missions?"

"Kim, if that Ron hadn't been brought here, he'd have died an unpleasant death, and a lonely one, just like you nearly did. As to the idea of bringing other versions of you all in as replacements, it just never occurred to me, probably because it isn't relevant to me."

Kim pulled away and rolled over to face her, a worried look on her face. "What do you mean, not relevant to you?"

Sara smiled in a kindly way, and reached up to touch Kim's cheek. "Kim, I'm not Earth-born, I've never been duplicated. If something happens to me, I'm gone, for good."

An appalled look came over Kim's features. "I Never...I mean, the first time I was told there were so many versions of me, it was so hard to comprehend, it became so much harder to take death seriously...No, I mean...I can't say it! But, I never considered the fact..." She suddenly took Sara up in a hug, and squeezed her tightly, "Accepting death is so much harder now! I...don't want to lose you, you're my best friend here! Well, female friend, now that Ron...I sound selfish, don't I?"

Sara rubbed Kim's back. "No, you sound human. Sometimes they sound the same, though! Kim, I don't intend to leave you, but how much of it will be my choice? We are in a high risk business here, which I don't have to tell you! I can't promise you, or anyone else, that I'll be around tomorrow, never mind forever! And you're right, it is much harder for us to accept death as permanent in this job, that's why they test us so thoroughly!" Kim released Sara and fell onto her back, looking up at the older girl's face. "So, I was tested, too?"

"Yes, Kim, you were."

"The same as when you tested Ron?"

"Not exactly. With Ron, there was a narrow focus...you. When testing you, however, we expanded things a bit, to see what you'd risk a world for, literally."

"And you did the testing?"

Sara shook her head. "Only one, Kim, only one. Others visited the other 'test subjects', if you'll excuse me for calling you that." Sara rolled onto her back, gazing up at the ceiling. "For me, it was to see if you'd do it for Shego. With the others, all four of them, each time it was someone else. Heh, kind of intriguing that you had five different opportunities to 'fix' things on different worlds, though since the Tweebs could build a Time Machine on one world..."

"And I resisted temptation?" Kim asked quietly.

Sara looked the girl in the eye. "Yes, but I had to stop you hurting yourself, afterwards! You broke one hand, and nearly the other, pounding the walls. You were berating yourself for being a coward, which you certainly weren't! The opposite applied, in my opinion." Kim digested this, then slowly nodded, and resumed her original position on the bed. Sara did as well, and all was silent for several minutes, except for their breathing.

Then Kim abruptly broke the silence, speaking a little louder than she probably intended to. "I'm going to take a sojourn." She tensed up a little, as if expecting a strong reaction.

"Really? How long did you plan on sitting around and aging? And where? Think you can stand Earth, before the thirteenth century? No TVs, Soap Operas, cell phones...oof!" A sharp elbow in the solar plexus cut her off.

"I'll manage just fine!" Kim huffed, "I'm thinking two years or three of growing up, at least I think that should be enough. But no, I haven't decided where, yet. Need to find a place and time without any great historic events going on." She snuggled into Sara, and closed her eyes. But she had one more thing on her mind. "Sara, may I ask, what happened to your little sister?"

Sara didn't reply for nearly half a minute. Then she sighed softly, "She died, Kim. Died of fright, one night I wasn't there for her."

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"Two years! But I just got here, you can't leave for two years!" Ron bellowed. As Sara and Shego grinned widely, Kim wiped a few bits of bacon and eggs from her face. "You'd think by now I'd know how to time these things better!" She commented in an exasperated tone. "Ron, I won't be gone from _here_ for two years, I'll just be in the past that long, getting physically older. I won't be gone from here for very long, at all!"

"Oh, heh! Um, sorry about the food, KP!"

"No Big, Ron! Like I said, I should know better then to talk to you with your mouth full, especially about things that might upset you."

"Does that leave you any chance to tell him...Oww!" Shego rubbed her thigh, where Kim had smacked her under the table. "Was that necessary? Just meant, how often does he actually have his mouth empty, anyway?" Kim shot her a stern look, but one corner of her mouth twitched.

"Har, Har, Shego!" Ron mumbled around another mouthful, then he blushed, and swallowed it. "Well, what am I supposed to do, while you're on this 'sojourn'?"

"One, you get reborn. Two, you start training...what?" Shego stopped at Ron's shocked stare, "Oh! Reborn! That's nothing, you just have to have your bod changed, so you don't trigger anything, when you travel in time! It's nothing, the pain only lasts...owww!"

"Nowhere near as long as hers will, if she doesn't stop teasing you, Ron!" Kim spoke to Ron, but no one doubted where her words were actually directed.

Ron waved a hand, "No Big, KP, I'd better get used to it, if I have to do missions with her!" Shego grumbled something, and Kim smiled sweetly at her, "Pardon?"

Shego looked sullenly back a second, then a smirk began to slowly appear. "Nothing, You Highness! This humble slavegirl..." She grinned widely as Kim blushed deep red. Then Sara smacked Shego on the shoulder. "Behave!"

"But, I'm always well behaved around my mis...no,no, No! Put the French toast down, and step away from the syrup, Possible!"

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Ron dashed into the portal room, Close enough behind Shego to nearly knock her down when she stopped abruptly. Sara was already present. "What's the emergency?!" Shego shouted, as she got Ron stabilized.

Sara shrugged. "No idea, she's just coming back early. About twenty months early! Think she may have blown her cover?" Before anyone could answer, the portal shimmered, and Kim appeared. She was a mess. Hair disordered, barefoot, dressed in a woolen dress that appeared slightly...singed. She was carrying her emergency pack, and a totally disgusted look on her face.

Shego raised one eyebrow. "Nearly burned at the stake?" Kim glowered at her, then gave a curt nod. Shego shrugged, "Been there, done that!" She turned back to Ron. "Okay, Stoppable, she's alive, back to training!" She spun the boy around and took him out, one arm around his shoulders. "Now, as I was showing you, the Art of Seduction can be very..." the door cut off the rest, while proving it was proof against a very angry glare, which certainly _looked_ hot enough to burn a hole in it.

Sara walked over to Kim, but hesitated to put an arm around her. "Um, sorry to ask, but do you need to be fumigated?" Kim shot her a glare, but it suddenly wilted, as she looked down at herself, then sheepishly nodded to Sara. The Monitor on duty rolled his eyes, as Sara gestured towards a different door then Ron and Shego had gone through. "After you, if you please! Oh, are you going to try again?"

Kim nodded. "Yep, So Not going to leave Ron two years ahead of me!"

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"The Green Hornet, and Kato?" Kim Possible asked incredulously, as she and Sara entered the portal room. Now biologically eighteen, after three sojourns in the past to get the two years done, Kim looked more mature, and not just physically.

"Sure! I mean, which of us do you not think can pull off their role, me, or y..."

Sara noticed Kim wasn't listening, but was staring straight ahead, cheeks flushing red. She followed the girl's gaze. "Oh, Hi, Ron, Shego! Guess turnabout is fair play, right? And Ron, that's way too small to cover what you're trying to hide!"

Ten minutes after the debriefing, a somewhat more composed Kim was talking to Shego, in the latter's quarters. "Well, how did it go?" She had the older woman in a hug, rubbing her back with both hands, head tilted back to study the pale woman's expression, Which was frankly one of amazement. "How...how did you put up with him, all those years, Kim?!"

"I had two very good reasons, Shego, One I hope that you share. First, he was my very best friend, from Pre-K. Second, he always came through for me, when I needed him! Was it the same for you?"

Shego looked around the room for a moment, avoiding the question, before finally giving up a grudging smile and nodding. "Yeah, when I really needed him, he came through..._this_ trip! Not passing my final judgment, yet!"

"Good enough!" Kim kissed her on the nose, then grinned impishly. "So, which leisure activity would you like to pursue, Oh Great Trainer of Sidekicks?" Though Kim glanced suggestively behind Shego, at her bed, the woman's stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, and both suddenly found themselves laughing too hard to stand up. "Well..." Kim gasped, "THAT'S settled!"

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"In answer to your question, Sara..." the Chamberlain addressed the girl as the two walked along a passageway whose outer wall currently gave an excellent view of Mars. "Kim Possible is an excellent Agent, potentially. And losing her would be a tragedy. And, being who we are, such a loss might not necessarily be permanent. So, yes, we might just bring another, alternate version of her here to replace her. The same with Shego, and potentially any other exceptional agent. And I am truly sorry to say we can't do the same for you, my dear!" He stopped, taking both Sara's hands. "I have much power, as you know, but even I have to get used to losing people I care about, eventually! And you, I care very much about. So, do your best not to make me sad, if you please, my dear?" he asked, with a gentle smile.

Sara smiled back at him. "I'll always try my best, Sir. Now, if you'll excuse me, Kim and I have an appointment in 1859, and I haven't decided what to wear!" The Chamberlain rolled his eyes theatrically as she turned and strode away, but his face became grim when she passed out of sight. "So many, gone forever! And so many more will pass, before I find my rest!"

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"So, 'limited' isn't truly an insult, Stoppable. It means Kim probably can't do missions that involve stopping people who themselves are trying to stop something we'd consider evil from happening." Shego and Ron sat in the cafeteria again, Shego studying the bruise on the side of Ron's jaw. "And, fighting with an Agent is _not _the smartest move you can make around here! After all, you don't have that Mystic Monkey whatever anymore!"

Ron grimaced, rubbing the injured spot. "I know, but I'm getting better at the fighting, without it, aren't I?"

Shego eyed him suspiciously, "Trading sympathy for compliments? No, seriously, you're better, but you're just fair, so far. But, you're no longer a danger to yourself, at least!"

"Thanks, I guess!" Ron looked thoughtful for a moment. "Shego, do you have 'limits', too?"

The woman seemed mildly amused by the question. "Yeah, I do, just not as many as Kim does, obviously! Sara falls somewhere in between, if you're interested. And, you'll find that me and Kimmie rarely discuss my solo missions, even when she would approve of them, because then any time I don't want to talk about them, she'll assume it's because I did something she can't approve of."

Ron nodded. "I understand. But, am I keeping you from getting those kind of assignments, because you're hauling me around, right now?"

"Don't think so, Stoppable! If they really had one for me, they'd just tell me to leave you behind, it's not like you'd pine away in my absence, right?"

Ron grinned. "No, but I think I would worry about you." At Shego's surprised look, he hastily added, "Because Kim would be hurt so badly if she lost you, of course!"

"Yeah, I knew that's what you meant!"

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"So, you want to leave them teamed? Both pairs?" The Supervisor asked his superior. They were both back in the former's office.

The Chamberlain nodded. "Yes, I think so! That's four missions each as teams, with excellent results. Even if it moves Shego and Sara both into a more limited mission category, there is plenty of work to be done in that area, and more than enough qualified Agents for the other kind of missions." He turned to his subordinate, and frowned slightly. "Well? Are you going to tell me what's troubling you so much, my friend?"

The Super hesitated, grimacing. "It's just...this idea of replacing them if they die! Or rather, _how_ we'd replace them! It actually didn't occur to me, you understand? But it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Yes, yes it does. We need all the trustworthy Agents we can get, and with our capabilities, and all the worthy candidates, why not? However, never will we have two versions of the same person here, no matter how desperate things get!"

He turned to study the starfield, as they passed on the far side of their moon from it's parent planet. "For now, by luck or good judgment, we have four healthy, happy, and effective Agents! Let us thank our good fortune, and hope they serve us long and well!"

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Okay, I am _not_ calling this finished, though there's nothing in my mind now concerning a continuation. But, I've said that before. I guess if I continue, I'll have to have some action.

Kim and Sara will be making a guest appearance in my big story, but it will be brief, bits in two chapters, 29th for one, not sure of the rest.

The reference to the 'behavioural modification' of Shego is borrowed from my 'Four Seasons' Continuity, as well. No need to look it up, just understand that it made evil an easier path for Shego, though it didn't 'make' her evil outright.

For now, Read and Review, Please.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

Sorry for the delay in posting, had to think this one through quite a bit, to get an angle. Lot's more talk in this chapter, hope it isn't boring.

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**November, 1776. Somewhere in New Jersey, on a road between Newark ****and Brunswick.**

Ron Stoppable couldn't keep his eyes off the road. He knew he needed to be scanning his surroundings constantly for signs of their target, but his gaze kept straying back to the road, watching for the first signs of the Continental Army to appear.

His dress was appropriate for the period and time of year, right down to the tricorn hat perched on his head. A device hidden under his collar provided him with the illusion of a queue at the nape of his neck, and pockmarks on his face.

He had several gadgets disguised as ordinary objects on his person, with only one giving him qualms. The flintlock pistol tucked into his belt. At least, so it appeared to be. It could perform as one, but a hidden switch would cause the 'lead' ball in it's barrel to transform into a stun bolt as it was fired. But, he could only use it that way if there were no witnesses. If he had to use the weapon at all. If they were lucky, they'd surprise their opponent and subdue him by hand.

Ron turned his head to regard Shego, crouching besides an oak tree ten feet to his left. If Ron's disguise was something, Shego's was a masterpiece, since it made her look like a guy! Partly it was an illusion generated by her equipment, but some of it was physical restraint, which she had complained about twice before realizing she was showing weakness in front of Ron.

The woman now looked like a man of about forty, with some gray in his hair, and a slight physical resemblance to Ron's disguise, allowing them to pass as father and son, if questioned. Her own hair, tightly braided, was tucked into the back of her coat, though she, too, had the illusion of having her hair in a queue. Their clothes were slightly shabby, a sort of 'middleclass' look, according to her, not being quick to replace worn clothing unnecessarily.

Ron brought his thoughts back to business, and scanned the area around them again with his naked eyes. Shego had a spyglass she used sparingly, with capabilities that would have shocked the people of this time.

They were inside the treeline on a low hill overlooking the road, which ran straight towards them after emerging from from some woods, before curving to their right at the base of the hill, and circling around it. To their left was open ground, save for a stream that cut deeply into the fields, winding it's way to within fifty yards of their position. Tall rushes lined the depression cut by it's waters. It apparently represented the natural drainage from the surrounding fields.

To their right, some broken ground, with bedrock exposed in many places, stretched from the road to the remnants of a rail fence, obviously long in disrepair. Beyond it, the fire-blackened skeleton of a cabin stood, at the foot of another hill, this one bare of vegetation, which rose up to a height superior to the one Ron and Shego crouched on.

But there was still nothing to indicate the presence of the time traveler they sought. Ron sighed, then looked again to the road, and saw movement. Two men on horseback, leading a column of uniformed men on foot. "Look!" He urgently whispered to his partner.

Shego lowered her glass and looked down the road at the approaching column. "Don't worry, Stoppable, George won't be leading the troops today, he'll be closer to the middle of the column, if not with the rear guard."

Ron subsided, as he studied the troops. _"Which state's troops wore white facings? I just looked at the list a couple of hours ago! First bunch of guys have new uniforms, from the look of them. Next bunch, not so much!" _He looked at Shego, trying to decide whether to ask a question. Her reactions to such things varied widely from instance to instance, and he had yet to learn to read her mood. Finally, he chose to plunge in. "So, these guys who sent the sniper back, they want the British to win the war?"

Shego responded without ceasing her scan. "Not necessarily. They just want Charles Lee to take over command of the Continental Army. Whether they think that'll give the British a victory, or maybe Lee wins the war sooner, of whatever, I'm not sure." She pulled a watch from one pocket and consulted it, muttering "Twenty-three minutes!" just loud enough for Ron to hear.

"What's the deal with that? Why is twenty-three minutes so important?" Ron asked. Shego's expression slipped briefly into a grimace, before she recovered her neutral look. Then she frowned, and shook her head. "Guess I should have let you go to those Agent classes, after all. But they aren't mandatory for you, in fact nothing is, Sara just suggested it. Okay, listen up, but keep looking while I talk, or I'll clam up, got it?" Ron nodded, and she went back to scanning, as did he.

"The act of duplicating a world isn't instantaneous, Stoppable, it takes time for it to be complete! It all depends on how many people are running around on the world, the more there are, the longer it takes. Now, the duplication requires a minimum number of people to work at all, and at that number, it takes forty-five minutes. No one has a reliable formula for figuring how long it takes with more people yet, so we try and manage our missions in under forty-five minutes, if possible, when duplication can occur. Otherwise, you end up with an unstable world being created, if you still spoil the time travelers' plans."

Ron thought about that for a moment, even as he became aware that something was making him scan the same area over and over. He began to frown, both from his reasoning, and his instinct that something was there that he needed to focus on. "But, if we don't stop them in forty-five minutes, why not let them go ahead with their plan, that way, they might actually make a stable world!" Then his eyes fixed on one spot, the suggestion of something long and narrow depressing the grass on the edge of the rushes.

Shego hid her wince successfully, due to Ron's sudden focus. "I'm going to let Sara field that one, Ron." _"And hope she doesn't kill me!"_

Torn between two conflicting thoughts, Ron decided to stick to the business at hand. "I think I see something! Right down there, along the stream!" He pointed where he meant. Shego swung her glass up, and studied the suspicious shadow in the grass. "I do believe you've got it, Stoppable!" She lowered the glass, and studied the terrain. "We'll have to work our way to the left, keep that brush between us and him, come on!"

Trying to avoid attracting the attention of the soldiers on the road while sneaking up on what they hoped would be their target caused them to burn nearly ten minutes before they came up against an obstacle. The rushes and reeds still standing were brittle and dry, making it nearly impossible for them to slip through them without making noise. Lying prone just short of them, Shego paused to weigh their options, Ron tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned to look at him, he held an item up, and her eyes nearly bugged out.

The item appeared to be a cigarette case, and had been part of their equipment on their _last_ mission, to 1905. It certainly did _not_ belong on this one! On the other hand, remembering it's purpose, Shego decided to spare the lecture and seize the opportunity, instead. She frowned, but nodded. Ron grinned sheepishly, then flipped open the case, and manipulated some hidden controls within. And suddenly, silence reigned.

Despite the sound suppression field, Shego still moved very deliberately as she parted the reeds in front of her, and began to slip through. Ron waited, judging as best he could the area of effect of his device, knowing that letting it extend to their prey might alert them. Only when he was certain Shego was about to exit the field did he move forward.

Shego reached the almost dry stream bed, and looked to her right. Their target had chosen to wear authentic garb as well. _"Hope his weapon is the real thing, too, and he doesn't have anything as back-up!" _He was lying as low as he could, with only his bare head above the edge of the depression, screened by the edge of the rushes on that side, his rifle laid out in front of him, hidden in tall grass, pointing towards the road. Which was what had betrayed his position to Ron. Clear of the noise-making reeds, Shego rose to a crouch, and began to stalk towards the sniper.

Shego believed in sixth senses, and was not surprised when her target suddenly became wary as she got close, even though she hadn't made a sound. But he failed to discern where the source of his sudden nervousness was until it was too late, as the disguised thief made a quick rush, delivering a knockout blow even as he started to turn around. She pulled him down into the depression quickly, then grabbed his rifle and slid it carefully out of sight of the road.

Ron joined her, turning off his device, and quickly pulling another item from his pocket. This appeared to be a tobacco pouch, but Ron pulled two leads from it, and after exposing a small bit of adhesive on their tips, affixed them to the sniper's temples. He reached two fingers into the pouch, feeling for a switch. When he located it, he flicked it, and a barely audible hum came from the bag.

Shego meanwhile brought a rolled leather bundle out of her coat, and unrolled it on the ground. Rather then a set of tools thrust through the loops in the leather, a number of metal cylinders decorated with numerous LEDs were exposed. Shego quickly made adjustments to several of these. When the humming from Ron's 'tobacco pouch' ceased, he pulled the leads off the man's temples. Shego then placed the rifle on the man's torso, in such a way that she could lay her 'toolkit' over both, with the metal cylinders down, in contact with both man and weapon.

Both now stepped back, and Shego took her watch out again. She opened it up, then pushed a small stud, causing the face to open up. Several small controls were exposed, and Shego held the watch towards the man as she depressed one.

There was no sound or visual effect, but the man vanished. If all went well, he'd return exactly where he'd started, convinced he'd never made it to the past, and that the machine that sent him back was faulty. He was lucky, in a way, since some of Shego's victims tended to return home minus some items, or having suffered some embarrassing damage to them. Since she'd teamed with Ron, however, she'd curbed those impulses generally.

As Shego closed her watch up, she noted the time. "Three minutes to spare, Stoppable! Now, let's get back home, unless you'd like to get a look at the Father of our Country?"

Ron looked conflicted. "Would that be all right? I mean, we're not going to cause anything by staying, are we, 'cause I would kinda like to see him." His earnestness caused a smile to tug at the corners of Shego's lips. She shook her head, "No, it won't, which you'd already know, if...well, let's sightsee, then get back, and talk to Sara."

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"It certainly seems like a no-brainer to me!" Declared a husky, red-headed man with a gray-streaked beard, glaring across the cafeteria table at Sara. Kim sat alongside her partner, studying the interplay between her, and this fellow Agent, one who Sara had warned Kim not to associate with, if at all possible.

Sara smirked slightly as she replied, "It would certainly seem so, so what's your point?"

The man's face twisted in frustration. "Because it doesn't always work out!" He stated, as if that was all the explanation needed. When Sara didn't respond, he growled under his breath, before saying, "Look, one of the worst atrocities of the Twentieth Century, and it could all have been avoided by using one bullet ten, fifteen years earlier, right?" Sara shrugged noncommittally. "Then why doesn't it!? I've heard of three worlds where he was killed, but it didn't change history, why not?"

"One of the worst?" Sara responded incredulously, before she heaved a sigh of resignation. "Look, Seth, I know what this is about, you're too lazy to go to archives and find the answer yourself, so you're trying to get me curious, so I'll do the research for you! Well, I happen to know the answer on one of those worlds, the assassin in question didn't kill him to _stop_ him, he killed him so he could take his place and do a better job! Spent two years ingratiating himself, setting himself up as a worthy successor, then engineered the assassination, and stepped into the leadership role himself, with the same overall plan in his head, and the belief that his knowledge of future events would insure his success. Didn't work, though." She sat back as if finished, forcing Seth to chose whether to ask for more.

And, due to his intense sense of curiosity, he had to. "Why Not?"

"Soon as he changed history, and he had to eventually alter events to avoid his predecessor's mistakes, he know longer had certain knowledge of events to come. He made his own little mistakes, and they snowballed, until he lost confidence in himself. He stayed in power three years longer, unfortunately. But, when things were coming to a close, he tried to return to the future, to plan anew, only to find that there wasn't any future for that world, in a matter of speaking. At least, not the future that had produced him, in the first place!"

She smiled brightly at her fellow Agent, "Now, that's one, if you want to know about the other two you were speaking of, look them up yourself! By the way, how many do you know of where that 'one bullet' did work?"

"Um, a dozen or so, but most of them didn't stabilize for some reason. You'd think with that many lives changed, it would have been...Um, automatic?"

Sara shrugged, "There had to be a reason! And again, if you have to know, see if there's anything in archives that answers that question for you!" Seth scowled at her a moment, then heaved himself to his feet and stalked off. As Sara watched him go, Kim spotted Shego and Ron entering the cafeteria. "Uh, Oh! Ron's got a question! And he's looking at you!" She whispered to her partner.

"How can you tell?"

"He didn't go straight to the food, something is gnawing at him, at the moment!" Sara studied the approaching boy, who was scowling slightly. "Guess you'd know him better then me! Any chance of throwing yourself between me and him?"

Kim grinned. "Nope, I'll take one for the team another time!"

"Why did I want you as a partner again? Ah, well, here it comes!" Sara smiled up at Ron, as brightly as she had at Seth, though a touch more sincerely. "Hi Guys, how'd the mission go?" Either the smile or the question caused some consternation in Ron, as he stuttered a bit as he replied.

"The M..mission went just fine!" He sat down, crossed both forearms on the tabletop and leaned forwards across the table. "But, something came up." Shego sauntered over, munching on an apple. "Shego told me about the 'forty-five minute' rule, and then told me we had to stop the guy even if we were past that limit. And I wanted to know, why don't we let them at least try and make a 'stable' world, if one's going to be made?"

Sara leaned back in her seat and directed a scowl at Shego, who suddenly became intensely interested in the ceiling fixtures, which in turn made Kim scowl, and reply first, "Ron, didn't you take the Agent briefings? Sara arranged it so you could, so you'd know what was going on, even if you weren't made full Agent."

Shego grimaced, and cut in before Ron could reply. "Well, you see, I really didn't want to waste a lot of time getting Stoppable into the field, so I told him I'd tell him what he needed to know, _when_ he needed to know it!"

Sara rolled her eyes, while Kim smacked her hand on her forehead. Then Sara looked at Ron. "Okay, Ron, what are we all doing here? I mean, all of us, our big objective?"

"To stop guys changing history in big ways, so they don't cause the Earth to duplicate, and create unstable worlds that are doomed! Right!"

"Well, we're trying to stop any duplications of any kind, stable or unstable, actually! But, and this will apparently surprise you," Sara gave Shego another glare, "We need to stop stable copies most of all."

"Huh? Why? Are you saying we're trying to get the number of Earths back down to one?"

Sara shook her head, "No, Ron, we couldn't do that if we tried!" She frowned, "At least, I couldn't!" She shook her head, "Never mind that, Ron! No, the problem is, there is a limit to the number of such worlds that can exist!"

Ron though that one over for a minute, then appeared to receive inspiration. "And something bad will happen, if we go past that number?" Sara and Kim both nodded, "Something _really_ bad?" Shego joined in on the nodding, this time. "and that's what we're trying to prevent?"

"No." Sara replied. Ron's eyes crossed, and his forehead thumped into the table. Sara grimaced, "No, someone else will make sure that doesn't happen, Ron." The boy's head came up, puzzlement written all over his face. Sara sighed, "Not to name names, but a certain...being, has made it clear that if that event becomes inevitable, and threatens man's extinction, said being will take 'drastic' measures to prevent it, to insure mankind's survival, and to insure he has a homeworld to come back to."

Ron took a few moments to sort that one out, before asking warily, "Are we talking 'Old Testament' drastic, here?"

"Um, maybe?" Sara winced as she replied. "I mean, I'm not saying you've got the right being in mind, or that those events actually took place the way they're written up, but...yeah, you might be on the right track there, Ron!"

"Well, why not prevent the duplications in the first place, himself?"

"Well," Sara hesitated, then plunged on, "Some think he set the whole duplicating business up himself, in the first place! Those that believe in a theological answer to that question. Man is not supposed to go back and prevent his mistakes, he's supposed to live with the consequences! That's supposed to make him think more before he acts!"

"And the jury's still out on how well that's worked!" Shego grumbled. "Anyway, we're trying to postpone that _bad _event as long as possible, since statistically, it's pretty much inevitable!"

"Postpone it why? I mean, if we can't prevent it, why try and delay it?" Ron looked between all three of them for an answer. "If I'm understanding you right, and some, most, or all of the duplicate worlds are going to be erased, with everyone on them, why delay it?" The way he asked the question, he was hoping to be told he did have it wrong.

Kim grimaced slightly before replying. "You kind of already answered your question, Ron. Think about what you just said." She gave him an encouraging look. Ron just scowled back, but his lips moved as he repeated his own words to himself. On the third repetition, his face brightened. "Oh, I got it! All the people still _on_ the worlds will die, if that happens, but those who get out into space won't, Right?"

Shego began "My Jove..." but Kim silenced her with a gesture that made the Shego's eyes widen briefly, before she smirked at the redhead. "That's right, Ron, any people who get out into the universe will survive, if what we're told will happen does happen. Whether they just make it out into the solar system, or actually head out to the stars, they'll live. And the longer we delay the event, the more there will be that do survive."

Ron nodded slowly as he thought about it, but a slight frown suddenly appeared. "Any 'Buts' involved here?"

"We hope not, Ron." Sara answered, "All I can think of that might screw us up is if someone suddenly, somehow, makes a large group of stable worlds. We're farther in the future than any of the Earths where the time travelers we've interfered with have begun from, but we may not be far enough ahead to head off every time travel attempt. And we don't have time to stop them all."

Ron remained silent. After a few minutes, he rose to his feet. "Ron, don't leave yet," Kim asked him, "I have something I want the four of us to talk about!" Ron's gaze jumped to her, and focused. Then he grinned, "No fear, KP! The Ronman's just going to get some grub, I'll be right back!"

"Yeah, I'm going to need more than an apple, myself!" Shego declared, and headed hurriedly for the serving area, before Kim or Sara could take her to task over Ron's ignorance.

"Should I be surprised Shego did that?" Sara asked Kim.

"I am, though I probably shouldn't be, she likes taking shortcuts at times, and has so much self-confidence, she probably did think she could carry the team alone. Though, come to think of it, she probably just wanted him to know the practical stuff for field work, not the background."

The teammates returned together, and Shego forestalled a return to the previous subject. "So, Princess, what do we need to talk about?"

Kim gave her a brief glare, before sighing resignedly, and getting down to business. "It's about being replaced."

Ron and Shego both scowled in consternation. Since Ron's mouth was full, Shego had the first response. "What do you mean, replaced? Breaking up the partnerships, finding replacement partners?"

Kim shook her head. "No, no! I mean, if one of us dies on a mission! It occurred to me, that they might get another copy of us, as a replacement!" As the pair's eyes bulged, she hurried on, "I mean, if they think we're such good Agents, there are other 'versions' of each of us, out there, that they might try and bring here to take our places." Kim's eyes suddenly widened, and she glanced at Sara, who was looking at the tabletop. Sensing Kim's attention, she looked up at the redhead, who flinched, even though Sara's expression was neutral.

Both Shego and Ron caught the interplay, but both had other things that needed to be expressed first. Shego's "Are you serious?" intermixed with Ron's "That's just wrongsick!" The duo's reaction did bring Kim's attention back to them, though.

"No, actually, it's not!" Kim directed her first response to Ron, "It makes sense, if they want the best people, and they believe _we_ are the best people! My point is, or rather...not sure how to say this!" She took a deep breath, and collected her thoughts before continuing. "If it happens to me, I really, really, don't want you to harsh on my replacement, okay?"

Both Ron and Shego had difficulties formulating a verbal reply, so Kim continued, "Even if she's different, as I'm told she may well be! If she likes Ron, and not you, Shego, can you handle it? Can you handle that, Ron? She might be older, more experienced then I was when I arrived. She might be an arrogant pain-in-the-ass, as I know I could be capable of becoming! All I'm saying is, if she isn't agreeable, fine! But don't judge her because she'd be my replacement, judge her as an individual, that's all I ask."

She waited patiently as her friends sorted through their own feelings. Ron spoke first. "I don't know if I could ever really harsh on Kim Possible, um, Kim!" He smirked, "But, I can see how you might become a pain in the ass, so I won't completely rule the possibility out!" Kim made a face at him, but she also smiled. "So, I'd like the same courtesy back, if I'm replaced, don't harsh on him, until he gives you a good reason of his own!"

Shego snorted. "That may not take long, if the next one isn't too keen on me sleeping with Kim!" She looked up at the ceiling. "As for me, how lucky can you get? I mean, how many copies of me are actually 'good' enough for this job? Then again, not all Agents have to be good, do they? So, they could bring me here at my worst, and set me loose on missions you three would never touch! Certainly break up the foursome, wouldn't it?"

Shego brought her gaze down, and swept it over both Kim and Sara. "Now, talk! What made you look like you'd shoved your foot down your own throat, Kimmie?"

"It's nothing, Shego!" Sara replied first, "It's just that there isn't another 'me' out there, to become my replacement, is all."

"What! Why?" Ron asked.

"I wasn't born on the Earth, Ron. Only people born on the planet itself are duplicated, or can trigger duplication. That's why I didn't have to go through that treatment you all did before becoming Agents, or Sidekicks." All three winced at the mention of their 'rebirth'. "Yeah, I've heard it's really unpleasant, but then again, people exaggerate!" Three dark looks were directed at her smiling face.

"Yeah, I remember, so we don't trigger duplication ourselves, right?" Ron asked.

"To reduce the chance to near impossibility, at least. Along with launching our missions from out here, that eliminates any chance at all of us causing a new world to form." Sara thought she'd settled that subject, but she'd given Ron another question to ask.

"Why does our base being out here effect the chance?"

Sara considered postponing the discussion, but decided against it. "Ron, to assure duplication, a time traveler has to start his journey on the Earth, and travel in what I'd guess you could call a 'straight line' into the past, using a form a projection as his method. If he travels in a 'self-contained' time machine, he reduces his chances, and if he starts from off-world, he reduces it farther. We don't usually worry about the 'forty-five minute' rule in those cases. For instance, Kim and I didn't worry about that when we chased that French couple to 1809, because they departed from a base on the moon. So, we took our time dealing with them."

"But, it makes it harder to calculate your trip!" Kim interjected, "Because the calculations for spatial displacement are more difficult!" When Ron assumed a very familiar expression of confusion, she smiled patiently, and explained, "Ron, everything in the universe is in motion, even the Sun and all the other stars! One of the reasons some scientists thought time travel would be so difficult, if not impossible, was because of the need to calculate how far the Earth had traveled spatially in the time you wished to traverse!"

"And the power necessary to cover the distance, temporally, and spatially." Sara added. "Though I'm not sure that explains the guy who tried to send six people back to the court of Louis XIV, only to have them all end up in San Francisco in the 1970s! Doesn't explain why no duplication, either!"

"Didn't those guys form a rock band?" Shego asked. Sara shook her head, "Nope, different group!" She frowned, "I think!" She grinned, "Never mind! Anyway, that's one reason why we don't have all the time in the world. Our range is not infinite, either! Have you noticed that counter below the clocks around this place?" She pointed at the display in question in the cafeteria. It currently read '1029'. "That's the farthest back we can go, right now! And that's AD, by the way, when I started, it was still BC! In less then one year, our time, we won't even be able to reach the twentieth century! I suppose that means we _should _be dealing with the earliest excursions first, but for some reason, that's not practical. As to that other question, I hope we never have to replace any of you guys, but I promise to be fair-minded if it happens."

"You don't suppose another version of me might be made a full Agent, do you?" Ron asked the group in general.

Sara shook her head, "No, sorry, Ron! When we tested you for that post, you failed!"

A surprised look crossed Ron's face. "What kind of test did you give me?" Shego looked up at the clock, hoping they'd have an excuse to cut the meeting short, but no such luck. So, Sara described the tests in general terms. "so, how did you choose which 'Rons' to test?" Ron asked Sara.

"Oh, I didn't, the Supervisor chose them for me. Basically, they all lost Kim, felt guilty about it, and later gained an opportunity to go back and save..."

"Whoa!" Kim interrupted, "That's not right! My Ron had no reason to feel guilty, he wasn't even on the mission I 'died' on!"

Ron shook his head, "It wouldn't matter, KP! If he was like me, he'd feel guilty just for not being there, no matter why!"

Kim shook her head angrily. "No, you don't understand! Ron didn't go out to the salvage ship, because he had a broken leg! And he broke it saving my life on a previous mission! So, he really shouldn't have felt guilty, at all!"

"KP, It wouldn't matter if it made sense or not, he still would feel guilty if you died on a mission, even if you deliberately left him behind, or snuck off on a solo mission. It's just the way I am!" Kim's anger faded, and she blushed, reaching out to take Ron's hand, "I never really appreciated you the way you deserved, Ron. I am so sorry I didn't!"

"No Big, KP! And I mean that!"

"Still, Kim may have a point about the test parameters." Sara commented. Seeing Shego's exasperated look, she made a dismissive gesture. "I'm not talking about doing any more tests, this set-up works fine, as far as I'm concerned! But, still, all those Rons I tested had good reason to feel guilty, according to my briefing."

"You didn't check them out yourself, or see what happened to them after you visited?" Ron asked curiously.

Sara grew thoughtful, as she shook her head. "You know, I never did. Maybe I should!"

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**Several days later...**

Sara sat at the workstation in her quarters, wrapped in her rarely-worn nightshirt, brooding as she stared at the currently blank screen of her computer.

The sound of her door chime startled her. She clicked on the security monitor, to show Kim Possible once again at her door. A curious frown on her face, she opened the door. "Well, I haven't had the privilege since your sojourns, and you grew up, Kim!"

Kim smiled at her, which didn't quite her eyes, which showed concern for her friend. "I'm not here for me, I think I came for you, this time." She said quietly.

Sara seemed confused at first, then comprehension showed on her face. She looked at the Computer screen again as she spoke, "Look, I know I've been off a bit, for the last couple of days, but it's nothing, really!"

Kim stepped forwards and took hold of the older girl's hands, pulling them towards her, and forcing eye contact. Still smiling gently, she spoke right to Sara's face. "Liar." Sara dropped her eyes, and Kim promptly knelt in front of her chair, again forcing eye contact. "Sara, please! I know something has happened. You helped me so much, please let me help you!" Sara tried to look away, but somehow couldn't break contact with the pair of earnest green eyes. Finally, she sighed resignedly. "Fine, but get up off the floor, will you!" Sara rose herself and helped Kim stand. They moved to the bed, and sat down on the side of it.

It took a few moments for Sara to choose her words. "Kim, the Supervisor may have lied to me, and I may have caused a stable world to be created, by my interference!"

Kim was shocked, but recovered quickly. "How? Are you sure? I mean, about either of those things?"

"About the second? Pretty sure! If I hadn't sabotaged his machine, he'd have followed his original plan, and that wouldn't have resulted in a stable world! I'm talking about the last Ron I tested, by the way. About the first? Yeah, I really think so."

"What did he lie to you about? I mean, I did figure out that he wanted Ron to fail, sort of. I mean, I wanted 'my' Ron, and I didn't understand he would have come here as a grown man, not the boy I knew. I think the Supervisor wanted to spare me the disappointment I'd have felt. Or whatever! I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have worked out."

Sara nodded her understanding before starting her story, "It turns out that there are plenty of extant records of what happened to 'his' Kim Possible. For one thing, when I was there, she wasn't dead! Not really."

"How do you mean? I mean, _you _thought she was dead, right?"

"I thought that was a condition of the test! But she wasn't, she..." She hesitated, until Kim squeezed her shoulder, "She surrendered herself to this villain in exchange for Ron, who'd been captured. And she wasn't seen for six months after that, nor was her captor. And yes, a lot of people looked! Then one day, she was found sitting on a park bench, right in the center of Middleton!" She looked Kim in the eye. "She showed no signs of recent injury, she hadn't been sexually abused, no sign of drugs in her system. But, as far as she was concerned, she had no name, no identity, at all!"

"Amnesia?"

"No! She had all her memories, so to speak, but any attempt to connect her to her previous life caused her to either become catatonic, or violent! No one could reach her, not her family, her friends, or her foes, even! She refused to acknowledge her name, or any name! They couldn't get her to accept that she had an identity or any kind. She said she was 'nobody' and that never changed, until the day she died. But, other then that, she was normal. She got along with children, and made new friends and acquaintances. As long as no one called her by name, and she didn't see anyone or anything from her past, she behaved normally. Same helpful personality, same cheerful persona, everything the same."

Kim was silent for nearly a minute as she digested the news. "What...what did they do with her?"

"Well, they had to keep her confined, because the violent episodes were _very_ violent. No one ever found out how he did it to her, he was killed resisting arrest, according to official records, and he left no record of his method." Sara sighed deeply, and leaned into Kim. "He killed Kim Possible, and left her body walking around, for her family and friends to watch from a distance, never able to talk to her, or be seen by her, lest they set off a bad reaction. They tried so many cures, and nothing ever worked. At least her bills were covered up to her death, many people, even a certain enemy of yours, contributed to her upkeep. She actually wrote a couple of best-selling novels, but wouldn't even acknowledge the pen name they gave her."

The two were silent for a long time, before Kim stirred, patting Sara on the shoulder. "You need some sleep, let's get you to bed. This time, though, I'll hold _you_, 'kay?" Sara nodded tiredly. "Thanks, Kim, I can use the holding. But tomorrow, I have to talk to the Chamberlain, and ask permission to do something I never thought I could."

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"You do understand what you are asking me, don't you, Sara?" The Chamberlain asked. They sat in a small viewing lounge, which gave a panoramic view outside the station, but neither was paying the view any mind.

"Not Really." When he looked mildly astonished, she smiled slightly. "I mean, I understand perfectly what I'm asking to be allowed to do, but I don't understand anything beyond that. Whether it's allowed, or not, for instance?"

He nodded his understanding. "I see. Well, yes, in fact, it is allowed, but definitely not encouraged, as it defeats the purpose of our mission, does it not?"

Sara shook her head. "Not in this case. The world Ron created doesn't survive long enough to reach space. And in this case, it's man's own fault! In fact, it was a terrorist act targeted at the first manned space mission to go to Mars, that triggered the series of wars that eventually lowered the population to too low a level to sustain that world."

"Ah, but then we have to ask ourselves, is it any concern of this project? If that world ceases to exist before the crisis, then it is not a vital matter to us."

"No, just to me! If I hadn't sabotaged that machine, that world wouldn't exist. I think he tried the plan I proposed, to contact his younger self, and it went badly wrong! At least, I strongly suspect that, from the surviving records." She shook her head, "I agree, this isn't a matter for the project, Sir. But, I feel responsible for creating that world, for the fates of those people! And for once, I can't say that those lives' existence were justified in any way."

The Chamberlain sighed deeply, as he rose to his feet, and rested one hand on her shoulder. "Sara, Sara, can you really live with doing such a thing? Can you rationalize it by saying that you're just preventing those people from existing in the first place, so no one will actually be hurt? Do you not think that all life serves some purpose, even if you can't see it?"

The girl was silent for a long time, before slowly nodding her head, and looking up to meet his gaze. "I can't rationalize it, but I have to do it, if I can get your permission."

He gazed into her eyes for a moment, and saw her determination clearly. He nodded, "You have it, under the following conditions. One, find out how the time-traveling Ron caused the death of his younger self. And two, if you undertake this mission, you have to succeed! If you cannot persuade the older Ron not to go, then you must stop him, by whatever means necessary!"

Puzzlement and shock warred on Sara's face. "If the second is a condition, why must I do the first?"

"Never mind why, it is a condition I insist on. And you must not go alone, either. If none of your friends are suitable, then choose among the other Agents. Seth, perhaps?"

Sara looked as if she'd been slapped. "Are you comparing my morals to his, Sir?" She asked, barely holding down her bitterness.

He shook his head, smiling gently. "No, Sara, you are nothing like him, I meant no comparison, truly. Now, are you resolved to go, with all the conditions?"

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Kim was waiting when Sara came down the corridor after her meeting. Without preamble, she asked "Well, are we going?"

Sara stopped, and looked her in the eyes, before shaking her head. "Not us, Kim. If I go, I'm taking Ron with me!"

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	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

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**Middleton, Colorado, more or less the present...**

Evening shadows were stretching across the back yard of the Stoppable residence, easily reaching the newly installed chainlink fence that bordered it, meant to hopefully contain a hyperactive two year old girl with surprising mobility for her age. The heavy brush beyond the fence was also cloaked in shadows, concealing two watchers lying prone among them.

"Nice place to grow up, Ron." Sara sub-vocalized. The sounds transmitted to Ron through their communications equipment were louder and clearer to him then a whisper would have been.

"Yeah." Ron seemed to have trouble speaking for a moment. "Man, I miss this so much!" he finally got out. After a moment, he spoke again, switching topics. "Why does this feel...different?"

Sara looked at him, mildly surprised. "I'm...surprised you can feel it, Ron! It's a new world, technically, that's why. Your older...okay, we need to assign you three designations. You're plain Ron, the one from the future is 'Old' Ron, and the you in the house over there will be 'Young' Ron, okay? Anyway, Old Ron arrived about three hours ago, and duplication is complete, so the world 'feels' new, to an experienced Agent."

"Oh! That's cool, I guess. Um, do you think Old Ron is coming here, tonight?"

"Well, he arrived at the future site of Load Labs, which is seven miles west of Middleton. Right now, there's nothing there. I figure he won't take a chance of being recognized by hitching a ride, but then again, he knows a few things about disguises. According to available records, Young Ron's death occurs tomorrow afternoon. And according to the Chamberlain, Old Ron causes it. So, why didn't he make contact tonight? No idea, we'll keep an eye out for him, though." She turned to Ron, an evil grin on her face, "Right now, how about a pop quiz?"

Ron's eyes widened, and he groaned, dropping his forehead onto his crossed arms. "Oh, classes and pop quizzes? I thought I was past all that, once I had that little piece of paper they call a diploma in my hand!" His head suddenly popped up. "Wait! Pull back a little, quick!"

Without hesitation, Sara slid backwards, deeper into the shadows, scanning the back yard in front of her. Ron pulled back as well, and they remained motionless for several minutes. Still seeing nothing, Sara asked, "What's the matter?"

Ron just kept himself from shushing her, remembering no one else could hear them. "Rufus! Time for his nightly patrol! I think he's right behind the tricycle, next to the porch!"

Sara blinked in confusion, before a scowl slowly formed on her face. "Rufus? You mean your pet...Um..."

"Naked Mole Rat, yeah! He got a dose of MMP, too, so don't underestimate him! I only found out just before I...um, died? Anyway, I only recently discovered that he made a patrol each night just before sunset. Why then, I have no idea!"

Sara continued to scowl, wondering if her leg was being pulled. Then she looked where Ron had indicated, but still saw nothing. _"I'm hiding from a Naked...oy! If this is just an attempt to dodge a quiz...nah, he's not that scared of one!"_

After a couple of minutes, Ron relaxed. "Okay, he's gone back inside!" He gave Sara a wan smile, "Go ahead, pop your questions!" He shifted forward again to his original position. Still uncertain, Sara followed suit.

"Okay, what do we mean by temporal projection?"

"Easy! The machine stays put in the future, only the time traveler goes back!"

"And that automatically results in duplication of the world if?"

"Keep them easy! If the traveler is an Earth-born human being, and they remain in the past for a certain amount of time, and they begin their trip on Earth!" He paused, "That means, if _you_ had used the Tweebs' time machine, no duping, right?"

"Right, but why would I have used it? Oh, well, if you're just talking generally, yes, you're right. _Unless _I made a significant change in history, in which case I would be guilty of creating another new world. Or like in this case, I found a more complicated way to do the same thing!" She finished bitterly. Then a sound caught her attention. "What's that?"

Ron listened a moment. "Oh, that's the garage door opening, maybe my parents are going out for the evening." He looked to their right. "I think we can move around this side of the house, and still stay out of sight, the house next door is empty at the moment. Dad sure hated to see Mister Landers leave, they spent a lot of time talking, and helped each other out on projects around the houses."

Sara took a look herself, before nodding. "Okay, let's do it." Aside from flushing a prowling tomcat, the change in position went without a hitch. Though their new position, screened by some kind of vines entangled in the fence, still gave them no clear view of the driveway, they clearly heard Ron's mother saying a few words to 'young' Ron as she walked out to the car. Sara heard a deep sigh from Ron as he listened to his mother's voice, and reached out to pat him on the shoulder.

They watched as the Stoppables' car backed into the street, before heading west. "They're probably going to the Watermans' house, Mrs Waterman and Mom are best friends." Ron opined. After a few minutes' silence, he spoke again. "Sara, I'm kinda worried, about that replacement thing we talked about? I mean, what if we need to replace Kim, and the new her likes me, I mean...wants me, and not Shego?"

Sara studied him curiously. "Would that be a problem for you, Ron?"

Ron blushed. "Well, yeah, kinda! I mean, I got used to 'my' Kim liking Shego...that way, and then the Kim we have now, she's the same, but it's not the same with all...Kims, right? I mean, after all that adjusting, I'm not sure if I could handle having her want me, instead! Or maybe I'd disappoint her, if I tried!"

Sara smiled, shaking her head. "I don't think you'll have that much trouble 'adjusting', Ron." She paused, thoughtfully, then snorted in amusement. "I don't want to belittle you and Shego, Ron, but on all the worlds where there was a reliable record, you two almost always were the same, but Kim..." She shook her head again, "_She's_ all over the place. It almost seems as if...the two of you always adjusted to what _she_ wanted, her choices. Even when she didn't pick either of you! And she usually made a definite choice between you, with a few exceptions. And almost all of those were painful to her, because she tried to make things work with you, before changing to Shego."

She looked apologetic as she continued, "I mean, it was either her denying she could want a woman, or her trying to conform to others' expectations, trying to be 'normal'. She never meant to hurt you, of course!"

Ron nodded, "I know, I can understand how that could happen with Kim. Trying too hard not to hurt others' feelings, no matter how miserable she might feel. She hated hurting others more then anything. I think she may have cared _too_ much about how others felt about her, sometimes!"

Sara nodded agreement. "One of the things we found out about Kim was how important connecting with people is to her. Establishing connections, and maintaining those connections gives her a sense of security, a sense of self, really. Not sure how good that is, depending on others for that sense of self."

She shifted her position restlessly before continuing, "When we first brought her to the project, she was kind of excited at first, interested in everything, enthusiastic, to a point. But then, she began to get withdrawn, introverted, even apathetic at times. She went to classes, and even did a couple of missions without problems, but...her probationary partner turned in a negative assessment of her, said she was too high maintenance at times, needed too much encouragement just to do what was needed. The problem, of course, was that she was lonely! She couldn't connect with a bunch of strangers from all over time, and she wasn't known to them, they only saw a young girl who had been touted as a potentially 'great' Agent, who just seemed to be going through the motions of existing. Sat by herself in the cafeteria, then stopped coming for all her meals, only answered greetings to be polite, then stopped even that. Eventually, the Chamberlain asked me to see if I could help her."

"And you did?"

Sara grimaced. "A little, maybe. Well, more then a little, but not enough. I tried being a big sister, not a friend, really, because I was more comfortable in that role. But she needed more, so we began to consider bringing someone she knew from her life, as an Agent."

Ron nodded in understanding, "And you chose Shego over me." He made it a statement, without rancor.

"Well, bringing you into the project meant cutting you off from your MMP, and nobody thought you could do the job without it, sorry, Ron!"

Ron shook his head, giving her a wry grin, "No Big, I'd have made the same choice, Shego beats me hands down, even with the MMP, maybe!" He looked towards the house. "I want to get closer."

Sara frowned, looking towards the house. The sun had gone down, it was almost full dark now. "Why?"

"Um, just want to see what he's doing, that's all! I figure Han is in bed by now, and...I don't know, just curious!"

Sara gave him a doubting look. "Well, I'm curious about that bag the Chamberlain gave you to bring along, but I'm respecting his instructions to you regarding it, and that data chip you keep fingering in your pocket!" Ron jerked his hand out of his pocket, a guilty look on his face. Sara grinned, then nodded, "Okay, but be careful, I'll watch from here. You have plenty of cover, if you get in among those rose bushes alongside the house. Just watch out for thorns, okay?"

Ron smirked, "I have some personal experience with those thorns, which shouldn't surprise you at all! I'll be quick, and careful!" With that, he vaulted the fence soundlessly and after a quick scan of his surroundings, slipped across the yard to the rose bushes, going in low between two of them, and rising up between them and the house, raising his eyes to the level of the window sill.

From her position, Sara could only spot him because she knew where he was, his head didn't protrude far enough above the bushes to make out. After a couple of minutes silence, she couldn't contain her impatience. "Well, what's he doing?" she transmitted.

Ron could see through his father's den, through the doorway, across the entryway, where Young Ron sat on the couch in the living room, the ligth from the TV flickering over him. The TV itself, however, was out of his line of sight. "Um, he's watching a movie, and he's...disturbed by it, for some reason. I mean, it's obviously not a horror movie, or not the kind I liked, anyway! It's just something that..."

"Ron! Duck and freeze!" Sara's urgent command nearly froze him, but his instincts took over, and he slowly dropped below the level of the bushes, then went prone, and crawled quickly away from the window before becoming motionless. "What is it? Is it..."

"Yes! He's just come over the back fence, approaching the house!" _"Right across the open back yard, what's he thinking?" _Sara watched the figure she was certain was 'Old Ron' moving quickly across the yard, reaching the rear of the house and flattening himself against the wall._ "All those years of black ops, all those missions he survived, and now he's acting carelessly? Of course, no one around here is likely to shoot at him, but still..."_ She wondered what she'd do if he tripped over 'her' Ron. _"Just have to stun him, but how would that effect future events?"_

Old Ron apparently needed some time to either catch his breath, or perhaps reconsider what he was doing, because he remained motionless for nearly five minutes, before finally slipping around the corner and moving along the side of the house. Fortunately, he chose to skirt outside the rose bushes, preventing him from literally tripping over his alternate self. His destination, however, was the same, the side window.

Ron lay as still as he could, eyes following the flashes of movement he caught between the rose bushes, visible against the very faint light from a streetlight that shone on this side of the house. _"If he uses the same method to get past the bushes, he can't miss seeing my feet!" _He held his breath. But either Old Ron didn't think of the same method, or he didn't like the idea for some reason. He began to work his way between two bushes while still upright, trying to keep the thorns from hanging him up too much. _"Well, he's old, maybe crawling isn't his thing, anymore."_

Moving his head carefully, Ron was able to see his older self, though with a hood over his head, and his face in shadow, there was no visual evidence that it _was_ him. But Ron had no doubts. He knew what he was seeing, and wondered if his feelings were the same. _"What he's seeing right now is as lost to him as it is to me, I feel sorry...heh! For myself!" _Then he saw Old Ron raise his hand, and prepare to rap on the window. _"Uh, Oh!"_

Then Old Ron's head snapped to his right, towards the front of the house, and he suddenly dropped into a crouch, sticking his backside into one of the bushes.

Ron heard a muffled noise from within the hood, and Old Ron reached back to try and disengage the thorns from his posterior, muttering under his breath. Ron winced in sympathy, as he heard Sara's voice in his head.

"There's a guy in a pretty spiffy wheelchair coming up the driveway, Ron, he was dropped off by a woman in a van." _"Ah, Felix! Bringing the video game goodness with him, I expect!"_ He didn't trust his sub-vocal technique enough to respond, with Old Ron within three feet of his...well, feet. _"And he'll stay until the 'rents get back, so there won't be any contact tonight between those two Rons! That answers one question."_

Free of the rose thorns, Old Ron slowly straightened until he could again see within. He tilted his head slightly, nearly pressing his ear against the glass as he tried to hear what was being said within. From where he was, Ron could hear his younger version's boisterous welcome to his best friend, though he couldn't make out the words. Except maybe 'Kim', 'meet', and 'tomorrow'. When he saw Old Ron nod slowly, Ron made a guess. _"He heard Young Ron say he was meeting Kim somewhere specific tomorrow, and he's hoping to talk to him...somewhere along the way? Man, thinking of myself, or my three selves? I was soooo right, time travel __is__ a cornucopia of disturbing concepts!"_

Old Ron dropped down beneath the windowsill, and was still for almost three minutes. Then he let out an audible sigh, and began to work his way back out through the bushes, fortunately turning away from Ron as he turned around.

Once he was through the bushes and gone, Ron remained still, until he heard Sara's "Clear! He's gone, for now", then he went limp, exhaling loudly, and wiping more than a little sweat off his brow.

After a minute, he rose to a crouch, and moved towards the window himself, again. But then he stopped. He could clearly hear Felix and Young Ron inside, already deep in whatever game they had running. Ron's fingers were on the windowsill, but he pulled them back, as he looked wistfully at the window. Then he turned away, slipped out beneath the bushes, and returned to Sara's position at the fence.

Back beside her, he remained silent for a while, as she watched him bemusedly. "You already know...where he's going to die, tomorrow?" he finally asked. Sara nodded sadly. "Okay, let's get out of here, nothing more is going to happen tonight." Without waiting for a reply, he rose and moved away, towards the back fence, alert for any sign his older self might still be lingering in the vicinity.

Sara looked after him sadly. _"My choice to bring him, my fault, whatever pain he feels! But I need him, will need him, when we talk to Old Ron in the future...and prevent this Earth from ever existing." _She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, slowly shaking her head. _"This is getting harder and harder, first the 1809 mission nearly ended in disaster, now I'm making these decisions! I...have to do something, before I screw up royally!"_ Opening her eyes, she composed herself, then followed Ron's path towards the fence.

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Just a short chapter, probably could have done more for this, but need to keep updates fairly fresh, I think.

Please Read and Review.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

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Ron sat on a park bench, watching the people, some of whom he recognized, pass him by. He himself was disguised, of course. A Black leather bag sat on the bench next to him, and he was currently studying a data chip he held in his hand. He had the reader in his pocket, and could pop it in and find out it's contents at any time. But when the Chamberlain had handed it to him, he had made Ron promise not to look at it until after the first question was answered, how did Old Ron cause Young Ron's death. And Ron would keep that promise.

Sara was several blocks from the park, in downtown Middleton, watching the street where the fatal incident was to take place. Alone, for obvious reasons. Ron had extracted a promise from her not to watch his death, she didn't need to see everything, just how it was caused. But the waiting was getting to the boy, and eventually he could no longer remain silent. So he decided to indulge his curiosity about something nagging him recently, and hoped it wasn't a sore subject.

"Sara? Kim has been acting strangely since your trip to 1809. As if something is bothering her about it, like something almost went wrong? I mean, if she'd been at fault, I know she'd confide in me, so if she isn't, then..."

"It means I screwed up, and she didn't want to criticize?" Came the reply.

"Well, Maybe, or both of you did...um, sorry, that came out wrong!" There was silence for a moment, then Sara spoke.

"It's Okay, Ron, your instincts are right, we nearly blew the mission, because we were having a little too much fun on it!"

"Fun? That's different! I know you were on the mission for a long time, for some reason, I guess you had to do something to keep from being...bored?"

Sara sighed. Also disguised, she was loitering outside a lingerie shop which was closed while the owner was at lunch. The part of town she was in had narrow streets, with no room for parking on them. The buildings were mostly thirty to forty years old, from appearances, all small shops and restaurants for the most part. "Okay, I'll keep this brief. We were trying to stop a married couple who had trained as terrorists and assassins. They wanted to stop Napoleon Bonaparte from invading Russia in 1812. They figured if they delayed things one year, the whole outcome would be different. First, what do you know about it?"

Ron grimaced, and tilted his head back to watch the clouds pass overhead as he rummaged through his memory. "Um, just that he made it to Moscow, then lost most of his army retreating from there, and it started his downfall. The first time, that is, he made a comeback, but was beaten at Waterloo!"

"Good enough! Well, the Russian General, Barclay de Tolly, decided on the long retreat option, rather then fighting a battle. One reason he was allowed to by the Czar and his advisors was because the Russian Army was going through reforms to improve it's performance, based on lessons taught them by Bonaparte himself, on the battlefield. Barclay convinced the Czar that they couldn't win an open battle, because the Army hadn't finished going through the reforms, and if they were defeated, Napoleon would dictate terms."

"So, our time-travelers believed that by giving the Russian Army another year to reorganize, they'd deprive Barclay of his excuse to avoid combat. Either Barclay would have been forced to fight, or the Czar, egged on by England, might have attacked first, hoping Prussia and Austria would rise up and join them! Either way, they expected Napoleon to win a victory, and change the course of his career, and history. That's the simple version, there's more to it, but that's enough for now."

Ron nodded, though Sara of course couldn't see it, "Okay, that makes sense, but why not use our usual method, scramble their memories, and bounce them back to their point of origin?"

"In the first case, they underwent some training in mental disciplines that would have made the memory trick unreliable. And second, their method of travel. They used a self-contained travel capsule, which launched from the Moon, and it didn't stay in the past with them, it dropped them off, and returned to the future. Since all of these things reduced the chance of automatic duplication to neat zero, we had no time limit, we just had to stop them from changing history, and triggering duplication that way, and they had a long, slow plan to accomplish that."

"They intended to befriend Napoleon, and become trusted by him, by whatever method. And since she was quite attractive, and they were both open-minded about such things, the seduction option was open to them. But basically, he portrayed an intellectual, a class of person Napoleon patronized. His specialty was one where I believe he'd have advised Napoleon against the invasion for reasons of logistics, one place where the Emperor definitely didn't plan well. But first, they had to gain enough of his trust to learn of the invasion plans in a believable manner, and they took their time doing it."

"Now, there was an easy way to deal with them, the method Seth and others prefer, eliminating them before they could meddle. They only had one chance, because the time machine they used wasn't theirs, their group seized control of it long enough to send them back, then tried to hold onto it long enough to retrieve them again. Of course, time being time, that didn't have to be long, but they didn't have anyone else briefed for the mission, so only that first pair had to be foiled. We hoped they'd send an abort message to the future, and be extracted, but from the beginning I understood we might have to do it the other way in the end. Or rather, _I'd _have to do it, I couldn't ask Kim to." She paused to give Ron an opportunity to comment, but he remained silent.

"We arrived in December 1809, three days after they did, and they had to carefully build up their cover, before trying to attract Bonaparte's interest. It wasn't until early September of 1810 that Napoleon accepted an invitation to dine at their home. So, I suggested to Kim that one of us needed to get on the household staff to see whether any of them were suspicious of their employers. Since that was a break from the tedium of just watching, she jumped at it. So, playing her older sister, I got her a job...on the kitchen staff."

There followed a lengthy silence, before Ron spoke, "Sara, how would you have explained it to the Chamberlain, if you and Kim had killed Napoleon?"

"Ron! Come on, she's not that bad! I mean, he survived countless battles, he led an assault at Toulon! I mean...the house suffered no major structural damage at all, and I discount any connection between that dinner party and the abrupt change in Napoleon's diet that some diarists of the time hint at! All just coincidental!" She paused suspiciously, "Are you laughing?"

"No...course not! I just inhaled a bug, that's all!" some odd noises came over the channel, before he asked, "Did you _tell_ Kim to, um, sabotage the dinner?"

Sara blushed, "Uh, no! I mean, with some people, you need to let natural talent run it's course. It wasn't too funny when she figured it all out, I had to sleep on the roof for a night!"

"On the roof?"

"Long story, Ron! Let's just continue, okay? Anyway, we sabotaged several more attempts on their part to ingratiate themselves with Napoleon, while trying not to show our hand, trying to just make it all seem to be bad luck. Then one morning, we found they'd gone! They had a Plan B, and gave us the slip!"

"Plan B wasn't seducing Napoleon?" Sara didn't answer, and Ron became alert, "Is something happening there?"

"What? No, sorry Ron, just remembered something. When Kim was on staff, and she _was_ fired after the dinner party disaster, she says they looked at her like they wanted to make a sandwich, with her as the meat, if you catch my drift! But no, seduction was an option to Plan A, Plan B was based on their other talents. They decided to give Napoleon a reason to be somewhere else in 1812, namely Spain!"

"Why? And How?"

"Napoleon had put his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, on the throne of Spain, deposing the Hapsburg-connected King. There was resistance, strong resistance, to his actions. There were Royalist armies and strong guerrilla forces opposing his occupying armies, plus the British-Portugese Army in Portugal under Wellington to worry about. So, they planned to assassinate Joseph, and turn Napoleon's wrath on Spain, instead of his ambition on Russia."

"But you stopped them, right?"

Sara winced, "Yes and no! It took us three days to find out where they'd gone, and if they hadn't stayed 'in cover', we'd have never caught them! But, they traveled by coach, and made it a leisurely trip, while we pursued on horseback. Except for some unfortunate highwaymen, the trip was uneventful."

Ron smiled knowingly, "Unfortunate because they got in your way?"

"Yeah, we had some frustration to work out, and they happened to be there, to their regret." Sara paused, shaking her head. "Kim's cover was blown to our opponents, because she had to keep switching her disguise on and off in Madrid, to avoid an amorous nobleman. They spotted her as she looked when working for them, and they captured her! The male assassin tried to interrogate her, and then kill her, but she was saved by one of Joseph's guards, who had grown suspicious of someone, Kim or the assassin, I'm not sure, and followed them. But, he blew his chivalry reward when he tried to insist on helping the 'poor, frightened maiden' out of her bloodstained clothes. But Kim swears she didn't do any permanent damage to him."

"What happened to the female assassin?"

"Me."

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't..."

"Hold it! I think he's here! Old Ron, that is! Straight across the street is an Asian grocery, and there's a Thai restaurant across an alley from there, and he's in the alley. At least, someone in a dark hoodie is, I hope it's him!"

Ron closed his eyes, remembering..."I think I know where you are! Any sign of Kim, or Young Ron? Remember, they're planning to meet, so they might not both be coming from the same direction!"

"Hang on." Sara moved closer to the curb, looking first to her right, then left. "Aha! Lucky twice! I see Kim, she's standing on the corner, one block to my right. She's talking to a woman, about thirty, African-American. And Ron is approaching from the left, on the opposite side of the street, still two blocks away. He's got his head down, and he isn't paying attention to where he's going! He just crossed one alleyway without looking down it, he's certainly preoccupied!" Though it wasn't close, a delivery truck pulled out of the alley behind Ron, and had to have been rolling towards the alley entrance when Ron crossed it. _"Something is definitely bothering him!"_

Sara watched as Young Ron drew abreast of the alley where Old Ron lurked. Young Ron was walking close to the curb, and Old Ron seemed preoccupied, too, looking up just as Young Ron crossed the entrance. He seemed startled, and suddenly lunged towards his younger self. Sara clearly saw his face now. But it was Young Ron's reaction to it that surprised her. He looked up and saw the older version of his own face, the hand reaching for him, and freaked. Crying out, he dodged away from Old Ron, into the street, into traffic. Into the path of another truck, the driver of which didn't even have time to slam on the brakes.

And Sara didn't have time to turn away.

Nausea flared through her, and her vision swam. She turned away now, stumbling over to lean on the door to the shop she'd been hanging around, trying not to vomit. Brakes now squealed, horns blared, and then she heard the scream.

"RONNNNN! NOOOOOO!" Sara looked up, trying to focus on the young girl dashing through the stalled traffic, red hair streaming behind her, racing to her best friend's side. The truck driver, visibly pale even from where Sara stood, tried to stop her, but she fought past him, only to have a Police officer cut her off and grab hold of her, hanging on despite her struggles, trying to soothe her while blocking her view, until someone covered Ron with a blanket taken from their car.

The truck now blocked Sara's view of the alley, and she moved enough to verify that Old Ron was no longer there, before her knees grew so weak she had to drop to a squat, and try and regain control of herself. Then she remembered. "It's over, Ron, I'm coming to you, just sit tight, please!"

Ron shifted uneasily on the bench. "I'll be here." he replied. Then he just sat there, unsure of what to do, or feel. _"Just been told that I died! Told that the people who care about me here now have to grieve, to deal with that! How...what am I supposed to feel, here?"_ Suddenly noticing the chip still in his hand, he almost mechanically reached in his pocket for the data reader, and plugged the chip in. At first he paid little attention to what popped up, but then he began to scroll through it, puzzled, then fascinated.

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Sara rejoined him thirty minutes later, dropping onto the bench gracelessly to sit and lean back, looking into the sky blankly for several minutes. She finally roused herself, though, and regarded Ron curiously. "Well, what's on the chip?"

"Well, the bulk of it is the personal and recent family history of Doctor Gebhard Fritsch, the guy who messed Kim up in this world." Ron responded, "But before that, the Chamberlain made a couple of suggestions." Sara cocked one eyebrow curiously. "Quote:'It may be instructive to determine why Doctor Fritsch chose Kim Possible as his victim, and why he didn't go through with his plan after Ron's death.' Huh? He means in the future of this world, but...okay, I'm confused, this world has a future, but it shouldn't, if we do as you plan to!"

Sara didn't reply, lost in thought, other then to mutter, "What's he up to?" After a couple of minutes to mull things over, her gaze drifted to the leather bag. "Can you tell me what's in that, yet? I'm having no luck figuring this out!"

Ron shook his head, "Nope, I don't know, either! It's keyed to your biometric signature, but on this chip, he suggests not looking inside until after you answer the next two questions!"

Sara looked at him askance, then angrily shook her head. "I don't like this! I hate the idea have having my strings pulled, even by him!" She looked around at their surroundings, but didn't really see anything. "Okay, we'll go to Germany, assuming that's his current location?"

Ron nodded, "Yep, Just west of Munich!"

Sara nodded grimly. "All right! Let's go see where we're being led to by our noses!" She shot to her feet and stalked off, anger showing in her posture and gait. Ron took a little more time rising as he watched her go. _"Man, I hope there's a point to this! She's dreading what she plans to do, and the longer it's put off, the worse she may become!"_ He took up the bag, and started after her, taking a last look around as he went. _"I'm glad __and__ sad I came back! I've still got Kim back in the future, but this I'll never have again! Still, better then dying."_

He sighed, and picked up his pace as he pursued Sara to a place where they could safely transit to Germany.

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Sorry for the delay in updating this, and the brevity of the chapter, I seem moved to write this story in small bites, even though I have the end in mind already.

Please Read and Review


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

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**3 Days later, in Bavaria.**

Ron sat leaning against a tree, once again reading the data supplied by the Chamberlain. He was surrounded by dense forest, nearly three miles from the nearest town. But less then a mile from the estate of Gerhard Fritsch, the man who would have kidnapped Kim Possible, and make her deny her own identity.

Sara was washing in the stream on the far side of the tree from Ron, and he could clearly hear her splashing water on herself. Though they had purchased some supplies on their way, they were a little short on fresh wardrobe. Camping out had not been in their plans, but the small size of the nearest town made strangers conspicuous, and Sara feared attracting the curiosity of Fritsch, who's servants frequented the town.

They had also failed to obtain the information they sought, the answers to the two new questions posed by the Chamberlain. Basically, they weren't packing the right equipment to fully monitor Fritsch's communications, or even obtain clear information on the layout of his mansion. There appeared to be only one option left, but Sara was loathe to take it.

But right this moment, despite the subject of his reading, Ron's mind was distracted by another question. "Um, Sara?" The sounds of water splashing ceased. "Yes Ron?"

"Have you figured out why Young Ron reacted so strongly to seeing Old Ron? I mean, I know I can freak out sometimes at the drop of a hat, but his actions were kind of extreme, I think!"

After a few moments of silence, Sara finally replied, "I _think_ so. Remember the night before, he was watching some movie or television program that disturbed him, according to you?"

"Yeah, he was fascinated by whatever it was, but disturbed at the same time, why?"

Another pause, then she tentatively replied, "Well, I'm no expert on twentieth century films, but wasn't there this one, where Death meets, or visits a man, all cloaked in black? And when he finally takes his hood off to show his face, it's the man's own face on Death? Can't remember it's name at all, but I think it was black and white. Maybe not Ron's usual choice of a movie to watch, though!"

Ron thought it over for a moment, then nodded to himself. "I think I know the one, and no, I don't think I'd have watched it if someone told me the story, but if it looked interesting visually, he may have come across it while channel-surfing, and stuck with it to see what would happen! Too bad we don't have a way to check if it was on that night, though, to confirm your suspicions!" His eyes suddenly locked onto something the reader was displaying. "Whoa!" he muttered quietly.

Sara was still talking, and didn't hear his exclamation. "So, the day after seeing that film, he's suddenly confronted by a dark-hooded figure with his own face!" She shook her head, "Poor Ron! The Older one, that is! His first plan wouldn't have worked, and on this try, he picks the wrong day and wrong way to reveal himself to his younger self!" She was perched on some dry rocks above the rushing stream, waiting for her body to dry off. The stream ran downhill away from her, wending it's way through the trees. She knew it would eventually cross through the estate, and had been careful not to let anything drift down it that might have betrayed their presence in the woods.

The air was a bit cool, though, and she decided she was dry enough to dress. Standing, she picked up her underwear, and made a face as she realized it was still damp, but shrugged and slipped them on anyway. She was tugging her jeans on when Ron spoke again.

"Something interesting about this guy's family history, Sara! Apparently, his grandfather was working for the Nazis back in the early forties, even though he lived in Switzerland at the time. But he abruptly changed his ways, and practically forced his children and grandchildren to do good, whether they wished to or not, because someone visited him, and scared him, but spared him on condition he turn 'his family's hereditary genius for medicine' to good works, or else!"

Sara had frozen as she was stooping to pick up her bra. "Really? Who was it that scared him so badly?" She asked with a touch of trepidation.

"Well, this you are _not_ going to believe, but it was supposed to be 'The Shadow!' I mean, he wasn't even real, he was just a fictional character!" Ron was grinning, wishing he could see Sara's face, but the grin vanished as the girl suddenly stormed past him, and strode angrily up the hill towards where they'd made their camp. His eyes bugged out as he saw that she was still barefoot, and bare to the waist. It took him a moment to ratchet his jaw shut, then he scrambled to his feet and dashed after her. "Sara? Wait up!"

He caught up to her kneeling beside the black leather bag. She pressed her thumb against the latch and held it there for several seconds. A 'click' sounded, and the latch sprang open. She opened the top of the bag, reached in, and shot to her feet, her hand dragging a long garment out of the bag. It was black on one side, and lined with red silk on the other. Sara stared at it for nearly a minute, frowning. Then she spun and tossed it to Ron, knelt and began pulling out the rest of the bag's contents.

Ron just stared incredulously as she produced the full outfit for her Shadow disguise, guns and all. She continued to poke around inside the bag, but found nothing more. She remained kneeling for several minutes, a thoughtful scowl on her face. The she emitted a resigned sigh. "I guess we're going inside, Ron. But we need more data about the set-up in there, and with our equipment, that will take a long time to gather!"

Ron stood silently for a moment, then suddenly brightened. "I may know a shortcut!"

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Wade Load entered his room and closed the door tightly behind him. He resisted slamming the door with an effort. It would negate the assurances he'd just given his Mom that he was all right. He took off his suit jacket, dropping it, and his previously removed tie, on to a table littered with spare computer parts, then dropped into his swivel chair and stared blankly at the screens before him.

They'd buried Ron today. He'd stood there as respectfully as he could, while feeling the pain almost rolling off Kim as she held on tightly to her father's hand and wept silently. The empty feeling in the pit of Wade's stomach, the helpless feeling that cloaked his brain, had made the whole funeral hazy, almost surreal.

He tapped the spacebars on each of his keyboards, and the blank screens lit up with images. Images of the mysterious figure who had apparently frightened Ron, and caused his death. Gleaned from various surveillance cameras in the area, the pictures were themselves hugely frustrating, as they gave him not a single look at the subject's face, even in reflection._ "Kim's going after this guy, and I have to help her find him, so she can...what? I mean, what will she do, the right thing, or what the guy deserves? No, she won't...she can't kill! Maybe I shouldn't help her, but how can I not? She's my friend, it's what she wants, I have to let her do whatever she needs to, don't I?" _Wade buried his face in his hands as he emitted a frustrated growl, shaking his head.

A loud beep brought his head back up, as a new image came up on one screen. He stared at the incoming message icon, his scowl deepening as he saw the ID the sender gave. He angrily punched three keys, and the image changed to a message, 'No Video Signal, Audio only'.

"I don't know who you are, or how you got that code, but you are about to get the spike of your life..." He began angrily, before an unfamiliar voice cut him off.

"Do that, and you don't get the person responsible for Ron Stoppable's death!" The voice, deep and male, snapped. "Or rather, Kim Possible gets to him first, and someone will die if that happens, mark my words!"

Wade's scowl deepened, as he replayed his own recent thoughts in his mind. His fingers continued to enter the command to send a spike to the caller, but they moved slowly, hesitantly. "Am I just supposed to take your word that you know the guy? You could be planning a trap for Kim, or getting me to work for you under false pretenses!"

"True! But all I'm going to do is give you the guy's name. _You_ see if you can find evidence of him plotting against Kim and Ron. If you don't, fine! But if you do, you send me all the info you can get on the layout of his home in Bavaria. And I promise he'll get what he deserves. But, you'll send the data to me anonymously, to a different number, so that it cannot be traced back to you. If you don't, I _will not_ act on it, do you understand?"

Wade bit his lip. The last bit puzzled him, the insistence that he protect himself. It didn't sound as if whoever this was was completely bad, if at all. And he didn't see any harm in checking someone out, if he kept the info to himself if they appeared innocent. "Plotting against Kim and Ron? Are we talking about the guy who frightened Ron, or not?"

He clearly heard a sigh over the connection. "No, unfortunately, _that _person meant Ron no harm! He meant to warn him about the plot, but he forgot in his excitement that his appearance would probably frighten Ron, especially taking him by surprise! But, if he hadn't intervened, Ron would have been abducted, and used as a lever against Kim. She's the real target. The guy I want you to check out intended to...destroy her effectiveness as a hero, while leaving her alive."

Those words sparked Wade's curiosity, but he chose not to ask their meaning. _"Don't want to be influenced by whatever story this guy's selling! But, he has one thing right, Kim would do anything to save Ron, even surrender herself!"_

"Do we have an agreement, Mister Load?" The voice inquired.

Wade took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Send me the name, and I'll check it out!"

"Gerhard Fritsch, he's a psychologist, officially, but he's been involved in a number of secret experiments in brainwashing, and psychological torture, among other things. Resident of Germany, most of his family is deservedly respectable, he's the black sheep of the bunch!"

Wade's fingers danced over the keys, entering the information. "Got it! _If_ I find anything linking him to the attempt on Ron, I'll get back to you!"

"Understood! Sending you the number to contact me. Just make it a data download, I don't want to hear your voice again. They'll be no record of this conversation anywhere, once I hang up! Good Luck, Mister Load."

It took Wade nine hours of research, followed by careful investigation, to turn up something suggestive. Unable to get into Fritsch's own E-Mail accounts without leaving proof of his intrusion, he tracked the outgoing E-Mails instead, and finally found a recipient who had a more vulnerable account, and hadn't cleaned out his in-box.

The date on the first E-mail to draw his attention was the day before Ron's death. It was encrypted, but Wade cracked the code in less then five minutes. It read: _As to my main project, will commence tomorrow with the acquisition of the lever, by which I will control the primary subject. Once subject acquired, cannot estimate time necessary to finish project, but can promise total success._

"Hmmm, if Ron was the 'lever', and Kim the primary subject, this might support the story." Wade mused aloud. His decryption program finished with the second E-Mail. It was dated yesterday. _Cannot express my disappointment at the turn of events. Changes in primary subject's behavior subsequent to incident involving lever will most likely make her an invalid test subject for my experiment._ _Will have to seek new subject, which could take weeks. Will inform you if and when I choose one._

"Now he refers to subject as 'her'. Changes in her behavior? Yeah, losing Ron will have to change Kim, especially if she goes off on a vengeance trip! But, why does it make her 'invalid'? Why did this guy choose her in the first place? And do I help this guy who called me? I should ask Kim, or at least...I can't! I can't take the risk she'll go too far!" He leaned his elbows on the desk, fingers pressed to his temples. "What am I going to do?"

After a moment, he resumed typing. First, he was going to look for signs the 'evidence' had been planted for him to find, as well as search for more. He also began the acquisition of the information his mystery caller had requested. He'd decide whether to send it later, based on what he discovered in the meantime.

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"I'll be the diversion, Ron, while you try and get what we want. I want you to do your best not to be detected at all, if possible. I know you no longer have the Mystic Monkey Power, but you didn't depend entirely on that before, did you?" Sara and Ron sat in the lightening woods, finishing off a meager breakfast from their rations. It had been nearly twenty hours since they'd contacted Wade, with no response as yet.

Ron shook his head. "No, I actually did learn how to be pretty stealthy." He looked hopefully at Sara, "What exactly do you want me to look for? I mean, we're supposed to be finding the answers to those two questions, right?"

Sara stared at him silently for a moment, then shook her head. "Try and find any information you can on what he did to Kim, or would have, in this world. Then we'll decide what to do with it later."

Ron frowned. "I'm not arguing with that, but...that's not the way we're supposed to do things, is it? I'm kind of confused about why the Chamberlain is doing this, why he's helping us do this."

"As to that, I have a theory, which I'm not going to share with you, sorry. I'd rather keep it to myself, because if I'm right, just knowing about it might have consequences. But don't worry, I don't think anything bad is going to happen to us because of what I'm planning!" Sara smiled reassuringly at Ron. _"At least, nothing bad to you, Ron." _She thought.

Any further discussion was interrupted by a buzz from Sara's communicator. "We're getting something from Wade, at least." The download took nearly four minutes. Then Sara took the data chip and transferred it to the reader, and they began studying the contents. Wade had included the two E-Mails, as well as detailed plans of Fritsch's estate, including a surprising amount of info regarding it's security systems.

"Hmmm, two floors, and an underground vault, which is where what we want probably is. Both floors have high vaulted ceilings, which helps explain why the building is so damn tall for just two levels!" Sara scrolled through the floor plans. "Two studies? Library/study on the ground floor, Office/Study on the second. Odd layout though, three staircases up, each to a separate section of the second floor, two wings, and the office, no other access between them on the second floor level. So to get from his office, say, to the Master Bedroom, he has to go down one set of stairs, then climb another?"

"He must like exercise, or whoever built the house originally did!" Ron commented.

"Oh, he had it built, five years ago. Now, as to security, it's pretty good, against normal thieves. Not sure we have all the internal systems though, according to Wade's notes. But, we should be able to gain access to the house all right. Security Guards are not regular types, these guys are killers, which means gloves off, as far as I'm concerned." Ron looked a bit troubled by that, but he said nothing. "So, we'll study this, and go in tonight."

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Gerhard Fritsch was a robust man in his early fifties, with thick dark hair barely touched by gray. He sat in his second floor office, reading through the voluminous correspondence from one of his most trusted colleagues. Casually dressed in a white polo shirt and gray slacks, he had a face that would have gone a long way, with a decent bedside manner, to making him a hit with female patients. _If_ anyone he ever treated had been considered a 'patient', rather then merely a test subject.

Unlike his siblings and their children, Gerhard was not altruistic, nor charitable in any way. He considered them small-minded, and unduly influenced by his grandfather's 'boogeyman' from the Second World War. He himself had never believed the story, and certainly not let it affect his ambitions, or his ethics.

Now he shook his head at what he was reading. "Fine _theories_, but this has to be put into practice to prove it's validity! He is so timid! There are places where such research can be conducted, without any concerns over their ethical implications! The location where I intended to work on Miss Possible, for instance! No one there would have been the slightest bit bothered by the things I would have had to do to her, to prepare her for her treatment!"

He scowled in disgust, "And now that project is scrapped! She is no longer the happy, well-adjusted and strong personality I needed, with such powerful family ties I would have needed to overcome in submerging her personality beyond recovery! The loss of her close friend will make her re-evaluate her world view, and may change her personality in unpredictable ways! No, I no longer have a reliable baseline from which to begin, curse the luck!"

The sole audience for his rant was his main bodyguard, Erich. A practically stereotypical big, muscular brute, he occupied a seat near the door. He was armed with a BXP submachine gun, holstered on his left side. He was quiet and efficient, and only spoke in response to questions, most of the time. Fritsch preferred that in a bodyguard, or practically any other type of employee.

"Now, I'll have to start a search for another such person, with sufficient notoriety for my achievement to be noticed! I--" A loud ringing noise began to sound from a speaker over the door. Erich was on his feet instantly, gun drawn and held ready. Fritsch shot to his feet and peered outside. He had lost track of time since his supper, night had fallen. Through his office windows, he could see a pair of guards dashing across the lawn, heading towards the house. "Damn! Whoever it is has made it to the house!" he snarled.

Circling his desk, he headed for the door, waiting impatiently as Erich opened it, then stepped through to make a check. When his bodyguard finally waved him through, he strode angrily onto the second floor landing. And stopped with a frown. The central part of the house was circular, and so was the main foyer. The stairs down descended counterclockwise to his right, ending just short of the arched doorway leading to the East Wing. The entryway was directly opposite where he now stood. From the landing to the marble floors below was a good thirty foot drop.

The cause for his frown was the lighting. Though light spilled into the room from both wings and the entryway, as well as from the hallway directly below him, which led to his library, the lights for the foyer itself were out. Fritsch studied the chandelier in front of and above him, but saw no damage. The sound of booted feet drew his eyes downwards, as the chief of his security force ran into the foyer from the west wing.

"Doctor Fritsch!" The slightly winded man called up to him, "I recommend you head for the vault area, it's the most secure area of the house, while we deal with this!"

"_That's not precisely true, but it's still a good suggestion!" _Fritsch thought as he responded with a nod. "Very Well!" he replied. The security man nodded and exited into the east wing, moving fast enough to stir the heavy wall hangings that flanked the doorway. Dark blue in normal light, now they appeared black. Fritsch gestured to Erich to precede him, and the pair started down the stairs.

Only a few steps down, Fritsch nearly missed his step as a sinister laugh suddenly echoed through the house. He grabbed at the railing to regain his balance, as Erich reached out to help steady him, as well. _"It can't be! There is no such person!"_ the thought had barely passed through his mind when gunshots sounded, and the laugh repeated itself. Shouts and more shots followed, but the laugh overcame them all.

Fritsch spun and looked back up towards his office, but then took hold of himself, and gestured for Erich to continue their descent. They were a third of the way down when two guards dashed in from the east wing, breathless. One turned towards the steps, and stepped forwards as he tried to speak. Then the wall hanging seemed to reach out and enfold them both, and a struggle ensued in it's folds.

Erich promptly swung his pistol-like SMG up, taking a two-handed grip. Before Fritsch could voice a protest for the guards' well-being, if indeed he meant to, Erich opened fire, pouring out the whole clip from the weapon in one continuous burst. The wall hanging fell limp again, and two riddled bodies fell to the floor. The security guards.

Erich was beginning a smooth reload when the laugh came again, causing him to fumble the fresh clip for his weapon. And just that suddenly, the Shadow was on the stairs, ascending towards them. _"Nein, nein, nein, NEIN! He can't be real!" _Fritsch screamed inside his own mind, as he backed up a step.

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Ron slipped silently through the west wing of the house, using a scanner to track down the entrance to the vault. So far, he hadn't had a problem, Sara's Shadow impersonation was keeping everyone _very_ busy. Ron tried not to think too much about the fact that all the shooting meant people might be dying, he just concentrated on doing his own job.

But just as he approached the hidden entrance, he stopped with a frown. His scanner was reading the security measures for the vault clearly. In his days with Kim, he'd have rated them as a 'seven' on the difficulty scale for bypassing. So, why was he also picking up measures that rated a 'ten', covering the access to the library?

After only a moment's thought, Ron changed his plans.

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The Shadow's hands appeared to be empty, so after a moment's hesitation, Erich re-holstered the still empty SMG and readied himself for a hand-to-hand encounter. The Shadow advanced up the steps, and his sinister tones preceded him.

"Gerhard Fritsch! Did you really think I'd forgotten your family? The pledge your grandfather made, and my oath to him regarding my actions if one of his descendants broke that pledge? If so, you are a fool!"

Fritsch's mouth worked, but nothing came out. At the back of his mind though, a reassuring thought whispered. _"There is still Erich, and your other bodyguard to deal with this--whoever this fool is!"_

Erich unwisely surrendered the advantage of having the higher ground, or maybe he expected to catch his opponent off guard. In any event, he lunged forwards when the Shadow was two steps below him, swinging his right fist in an overhand blow at his opponent's head. But a hand caught his wrist, and the Shadow twisted, pinning Erich's lead foot against against the stairs with her own foot as she pulled, and suddenly the big bodyguard was tumbling uncontrollably down the stairs to end in a crumpled heap at the foot of the stairs, lying in the pool of blood spreading from the victims of his own ruthlessness.

But even as Erich tumbled, another factor intervened. Erich was big, relatively slow, and obvious. Fritsch's second bodyguard was anything but. He came flying off the railing from the landing above, leaping across the gap and down towards the Shadow. It was a prodigious leap, but the man knew his ability, and was totally confident in his judgment regarding what he could, and couldn't do. Two sharp blades gleamed in his hands.

But he failed to account for one factor in his leap. The physical stopping power of the three .45 caliber bullets that slammed into him when he had barely cleared the upper railing. Though his lightweight, State-of-the-Art body armor prevented the slugs from penetrating his body, it did nothing to prevent the cancellation of his momentum, or the disruption of his coordination caused by the pain of the impacts. And it was still thirty feet to the marble floor below.

Fritsch stared in shock at the two smoking automatics that had abruptly appeared in the Shadow's hands, then down at the bodies of his two bodyguards. Then he spun and scrambled up the steps again, fleeing towards his office, the mocking laugh of the Shadow pursuing him.

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The falling Ninja gave Ron quite a shock, as well, smacking into the marble floor only a few feet away from him. Suppressing an exclamation of surprise, he ducked into the hallway leading to the library. Studying his scanner, he began working controls to jam or spoof various sensors in the hallway as he progressed. The locking mechanism on the doors took more time, but fortunately he didn't have to deal with any infrared beams or similar defenses, which always gave him problems.

Once inside, though, he faced the challenge of finding what he wanted,if indeed it was even here. Walls of books surrounded him, which was hardly a surprise. They all looked old, and Ron assumed that what he needed would be a great deal newer. He scanned for hidden safes or other secret compartments, and found none. He studied his own scanner for a minute, and found a means of scanning for the age of objects. He then began to sweep the scanner across the shelves, and began to get some peculiar readings. He frowned as he puzzled them out, then suddenly smiled, and began to pull some of the books down.

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Sara entered Fristch's office through the unlocked door, one gun ready in her right hand. Fritsch was seated at his desk, trying to appear composed as she approached, moving to one side so as not to stand directly in front of the desk.

"Your experiments on human subjects have been nothing short of reprehensible, Doctor Fritsch! It is past time for them to be brought to an end! But, I have a question, Doctor!" Sara stopped just short of the front of the desk, two feet outside the corner. "Why would you choose as a test subject someone like Kim Possible?"

Fritsch's expression went from feigned calm, to confusion, to interest. "I see one of my colleagues has been indiscreet! I wonder which one betrayed my confidence? As to the answer, it was just fate. I wouldn't have thought of her at all, if not for seeing her on the television, a brief documentary describing her accomplishments, and a quick profile of her family life! It made her seem the ideal candidate. It was never anything personal, believe me!" Fritsch's hands were out of sight below the desk. One held a pistol, the other the remote control for his office television set, which was on the wall next to the door. It was on the opposite side of the room from where Sara stood, but still behind her.

Screwing up his nerve, Fritsch hit the 'on' button on the remote, waited a second, then shoved his chair back and tried to bring his gun up and fire while his foe was hopefully distracted.

It didn't work...

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Ron reached the campsite first, Sara appearing moments later, having covered his back trail. She pulled off her hat and scarf, and slumped down wearily on a rock. "Did you find it?" She asked.

Ron nodded. "I hope so! I found these pages interleaved with the pages of some old books in his library. They're in German, and I only had time to translate a little of them. They all have the same project name, and the dates indicate they're something he's been working on recently. So, I'm hoping they're what we need."

"We need to move right now, we'll look at them later. Pack everything up, and let's go!" Alarms still echoed through the forest, and the sounds of speeding cars and sirens whooping were now becoming audible. The pair made their departure as quickly as possible, moving a safe distance away before using their transporters to fade away completely.

Hours later, after getting some sleep, Sara pored over the notes Ron had gathered, using a translation program in her scanner. She finally nodded and sat back, satisfied. She looked around at their surroundings. They had transported themselves to Maine, and now sat on a rocky strip of coastline, the subject of curiosity for a goodly number of seabirds.

Ron, who was gazing out at the ocean, looked around as she spoke. "We've got what we need, Ron. But, as far as dealing with Old Ron in the future? We still have to do it the hard way. We have to make him change his own mind, without revealing our possession of the potential cure for Kim, understand?"

Looking into her serious eyes, Ron slowly nodded. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't, but you're calling the shots, Sara! Let's get this all over with, shall we?"

Sara flinched, then nodded, "Yeah, let's get this all over with."

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This started out as such a simple story. But, all of my stories end up running away with me. But, the end will come soon, I promise!

Please Read and Review.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

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**Emma Lipsky Memorial Institute, Middleton, Colorado. 34 years from now....**

Doctor Emily Rockwaller hated showing visitors around. Especially those who were just curious about their most well-known patient. Though well-known applied less and less with each passing year, as the world forgot about her. But some people, other then her family, still came to the Institute to gawk at her, and tut-tut over the tragedy of her life. Emily didn't know for sure if the two current visitors fell into that category, and didn't care. Putting a person on display like this was disgusting.

She was leading them across the lawn, away from the main building, through the outer security barrier to a separate structure. It was adjacent to the main parking lot, surrounded by greenery and flower beds. Those at the moment were bare, it being mid-November currently.

"Kind of unusual, having a day-care center at a mental health facility." Commented the female visitor. She was tall, with dark hair, dressed in a businesslike fashion, with variable-tint glasses hiding her eyes. Her companion was similarly dressed, with brown hair and a somewhat more relaxed stride.

"It's very convenient for the employees, and isolated from the patients, with one exception, of course." Emily replied in her professional voice.

"And that exception can be trusted not to harm the children?"

"Without a doubt!" Emily responded, grinding her teeth slightly as she fought not to snap he answer out. She produced her pass as they reached the sliding glass doors at the rear of the center, and ran it through the security lock. Without any discernible noise, the doors slid open. "Remember the rules, you will observe her, but are allowed no interaction, clear?" She halted and looked at each of her companions in turn with an unwaveringly stern stare.

The woman nodded sharply. "Of course! We have no intention of violating this facilitie's protocols in any way." The young man nodded as well. Emily hesitated, then grudgingly nodded in return, and led them to a door, which opened into a small room with one glass wall. Through it, they could see the main room of the center.

A dozen children were present, ranging from infants to about four years of age, with two adult women and a girl in her late teens looking out for them. The two visitors eyes went at once to one of the women, lying full length on the floor, head propped up on one elbow as she raptly watched a little boy drawing with crayons. A sharp intake of breath by the young man drew Emily's attention, but it wasn't an unusual response.

On the shady side of fifty now, Kim Possible was still easily recognizable. Very little gray showed in her hair yet, but the lines around her eyes and mouth were a clearer indicator of age. Her body was still lithe, but not as fit, though it was hard to tell for sure in the loose clothes she wore.

"She's aged well, I see." The woman commented, "Does she still take good care of herself?"

Emily sighed, shaking her head. "Not much for exercise any more, just some basic stuff she does in the morning. Used to do her old workouts regularly, the first fifteen or so years here, but then she gradually stopped, and became interested only in maintaining a fair state of fitness. She gets regular check-ups here, of course, and obeys doctor's orders to the letter."

"But no treatments are being carried out, currently?"

Emily's shook her head. "Not recently, no. They tried everything they knew of, from when she first came in, and every once in a while someone would show up with a new idea to try, but they always ended up failing, and putting a strain on her. More then one 'treatment' made her condition worse, if anything. Violent, or emotionally barren, for long periods. One 'revolutionary' drug treatment made her sterile! Nothing has helped. Her parents finally refused to let her be a guinea pig for even the most reputable doctors."

The young man frowned. "They haven't given up, have they?"

Emily looked at him wearily. "They gave up so much already, I don't see how they can continue to hope. Her Mother went back to school, learning all she could, in hope of curing her. She succeeded with others, but never Kim. Her Father lost his job, he was so distraught about her, even before his sons also disappeared. They still come, but rarely. They sit in here and watch her with the children, because she's happiest when she's with them. But they can't let her see them, they can't touch, or talk with her. I have to admit, I can't watch them watching her, it's....oh, there are no words!"

The woman was scowling fiercely as she listened, but remained silent. The young man hesitated, then asked, "But how is she dealing with it?"

"She just does. Sometimes, when I walk her back to her room, she stops and looks at the wall. Listens to sounds from the highway. But she never asks...I think she's afraid of the world out there, now. I don't think she believes she has any place but here. She'll probably live out her life here, as it stands. My Mom...she knew Kim once, came here once to watch her like this. I've never seen her cry so much in all my life! And when one of the children called Kim 'Miss Nobody', Mom ran out of here like...that's not important, sorry to get maudlin."

"Nobody." The young man echoed her.

Emily nodded. "Yes, that's what she tells the children, that she's nobody. And if one of them says anything about Kim Possible, which is very unlikely these days, she just smiles and says that that was someone else, not her. Which seems to suggest...oh, never mind! Whatever was done to her, it doesn't fall into any known category of disassociation, or memory manipulation, or anything we can get a handle on! Whoever did this came up with something unique, and after more than thirty years, no one's figured out what it was!"

The young man frowned. "They still don't know who did it?" His companion briefly shifted her gaze from Kim to him, scrutinizing him briefly before turning back.

"There were all sorts of stories in the beginning. One of the villains she fought, someone unknown, even conspiracy theories where the Government did it because she knew too many secrets, but no one was ever publicly identified for the crime. My paternal Grandfather even put up a reward for information leading to a conviction, with no success, and he was one of her enemies! There was a TV special for the twenty-fifth anniversary of her institutionalization, which asked those wonderful questions, 'Where is she now?', and 'Who did it?'; The first answer was obvious, the second one they danced around for forty-five minutes minus commercials and came up with nothing!" Realizing she was becoming a bit shrill, Emily stopped and took a deep breath. As she did, her pager went off. She consulted it, and grimaced. "Excuse me for a few minutes, I'll be right back!" Both visitors nodded, and she left the room hurriedly. The pair went back to studying Kim.

"She's still beautiful, even now." Ron finally said. Kim was tapping the paper the little boy was drawing on. The boy started to grin, even as he looked where she was tapping. "He knows what's coming!" Ron grinned, too. Kim tapped the paper again, talking to the little boy, and he leaned a little closer, smiling widely, but shaking his head. Kim repeated the tap, and the boy leaned down...and Kim pulled the 'Snatch the Nose' trick on him. The boy rocked back giggling, while Kim showed him his stolen 'nose', and he couldn't help but reach up and touch his nose, just to be absolutely sure it was still there.

Ron watched this with a smile, but a tear ran down his cheek as well.

"I was supposed to see this the first time, I think." Sara spoke quietly. "I went to 'Old Ron' thinking Kim was dead in this world. I think he was expected to say something that would have led me here, four years ago. And I think...believe, that is, that I was expected to act in a certain way when I saw this! My previous mission, and then this...hell."

"You still haven't told me what's going on, Sara! Why are you breaking the rules? Why are you being _encouraged_ to break the rules? For Kim? I mean, that's who I'd do it for..."

"It's not about Kim!" Sara interrupted him, "Not for...whoever. For us, yes! We're going to do this for Kim, but she's not the important one, not in the grand scheme of things!" She shook her head angrily. "It's time to go see Old Ron! Are you sure you want to carry the ball on this one?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, I think I know how to get through to him."

Sara grinned mirthlessly. "Wish you'd let me know what I missed trying on him, that first time! Thought I tried it all!"

"Well, you didn't know she was alive, did you? And after that, we give the doctors the cure, right?" Ron asked, hopefully.

Sara's expression went neutral. "Yeah, Ron, then we give the cure to the people who can help her."

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The years since the previous attempt by Ron to time-travel had not been kind to Wade Load. What hair he had left was pure white, and he looked like a man of seventy rather then one who hadn't seen fifty yet. He had occasional problems keeping his hands from shaking as if he had palsy. He took pills for it, but they in turn made concentrating difficult, so he'd sometimes skip them when he had a difficult project to complete.

Now he was preparing to swallow a couple, as he watched Ron checking his equipment for what seemed like the fifth or sixth time. Ron hadn't changed much in the same period, except Wade couldn't remember the last time he'd seen anything resembling a smile on his face.

This time, at least, he wasn't packing a load of explosives, and was wearing normal clothing instead of something suited for stealth. He swore this time he was not going to use violence, unless absolutely necessary. He wouldn't divulge his full plan, saying he was doing it old style. Which meant making it up as he went along. Maybe. Wade still had a lingering mistrust of Ron, one that pained him greatly, but he just couldn't shake it.

The rebuilt time machine looked the same as before. But in fact, multiple additional safeguards and redundancies had been added, to detect any sabotage attempts.

Wade had spent the intervening years since the previous try trying to verify the existence of parallel Earths. But as he had said then, he already did believe in them. He wasn't quick to accept Sara's explanations as to how they were formed, etcetera, but then again, she had candidly admitted to lying, to keep someone with his intellect from knowing enough to make use of.

So, he accepted that Ron's trip _might_ create a new one. The stable/unstable issue was beyond his means to verify, so he couldn't object to the trip on those grounds. But, one scientist, who he deeply respected, had theorized that there had to be a limit to how many such worlds could exist simultaneously. And he didn't think the consequences of reaching that limit would be pleasant, to say the least. But theories weren't going to deter Ron now.

For nearly a year after their first try, he had gone through the motions of living, as if he had given up on the idea, and the risks. Wade had heard that he was seen often walking near the Lipsky Institute, and on occasion in his old neighborhood. Once Wade had heard a policeman had spotted him loitering near the Possible home.

But then he'd come to Wade, determined to go back. And Wade had agreed to help, simply because he couldn't say no. There was no question of Wade going along this time, it was going to be a solo mission. And Wade would never know if it was successful. No beacons, no return trip. What Ron planned to do with himself in the past, Wade didn't know, and wasn't sure he wanted to ask.

Ron finished securing his gear, and waited a moment before standing up, trying to hide how stiff he'd become while crouching down. He patted his pockets, as if to make sure nothing had vanished from them in the last ten minutes.

Finished, he looked at Wade, and that missing smile of his briefly made an appearance. "Well, I guess I'm ready." He had a lot of mixed emotions in his voice.

Wade popped his pills, and washed them down with water, then nodded. "Unless there's a last minute objection, I guess it's time."

"Did you know I was here, or were you just tempting fate?" The female voice out of the shadows nearly brought Wade's meds back up. Ron spun to face the voice, his expression going straight to hostile. Too hostile, Wade noted.

Sara wasn't in costume, this time. The business attire was a definite contrast to her previous wear. And she wasn't alone this time. Wade found himself surreptitiously slipping a hand into his vest pocket, and nervously fingering a small device that would summon the Lab's security force.

The two new arrivals stepped forwards. Ron tensed up, hostility practically rolling off him as he glowered at Sara. "Why are you here?" He growled. His fingers flexed, as if trying to decide what form to take.

Sara shrugged. "Same as before, Ron. More or less, that is. But this time, I'm not doing the talking, this guy is." She indicated her companion with a thumb.

Ron's gaze shifted to the stranger, studying him intently. He got a curious frown in return. Deciding he wasn't too impressed, he shrugged. "Who's he, your boss or something?"

Wade blinked at the expression that came over the stranger's face, the widened eyes, the grin...."You have got to be kidding!" he muttered.

Sara noted his reaction and smirked, shaking her head. "Better drop the disguise, we don't have a lot of time, Ron."

Old Ron's eyes bulged when Ron canceled his disguise. "Wha...who..I don't...what the hell is going on here?" he stammered out, "Where did he come from!" he bellowed at Sara. She noted the way the veins on his forehead flared into prominence, and winced. _"Haven't let up on yourself, have you, Ron?"_

"Dude! Chill out, before you bust a vein, or something!" Ron addressed his alternate self. "I was pulled from another world, to work with....Sara, and some others. Her first visit to you had something to do with it."

Old Ron had a sudden urge to sit down. His belligerence had drained out of him, but he still looked wary, as he sat down next to Wade.

"So, it was some kind of test?" Wade asked. A flicker of surprise crossed Sara's face, before she suppressed it. "Well," she replied, "You could say that. A test he failed, by the way. Before we go farther with this, I want Ron to tell me something. Something I really need to know, but can't tell you why."

A bit of hostility surged back up into Old Ron's face. "What do you need to ask me about? Don't you know everything, or can't you find out anything for yourself?" he spat out.

Sara's eyes narrowed, fixing his with a razor-sharp gaze. "What happened to Doctor Fritsch, Ron?"

Old Ron's eyes popped wide, and his face went pale with shock. "How...how do you know about him?" Wade looked at him curiously, his question plain on his face.

"What happened to him, Ron!" Sara repeated sharply. "Why did you really go to work for those people? Why start doing things so radically different from what you'd done with Kim? Was it by choice? Answer me!" She hammered him relentlessly, and he kept hunching deeper and deeper into himself, until he snapped.

"I killed him!" He shouted. "The only person who could have cured Kim, and I killed him!" Wade recoiled so violently, he nearly fell out of his chair. Young Ron backed up a step, shock on his face.

"On purpose?" Sara asked.

"No! I mean, maybe! I'm really not sure how it happened! We snuck into his estate, and I got to him in his office, on the second floor! Then...I knocked him over the balcony rail, and I had his hand....someone said they had the database from his computer....and he slipped out of my hand, or...I dropped him, I'm not sure! He broke his neck when he hit some kind of ornamental statue below." He sagged in his seat, tears in his eyes.

"Who was with you, Ron? The people you went to work for? Did they help you find Fritsch?"

Wade spoke up even as Old Ron nodded. "Who's Fritsch? Is he the one who did that to Kim?" He turned on Old Ron without waiting for an answer, "Why didn't you let me help? Why didn't you tell me? We could have gotten him together!"

Old Ron shook his head. "They came to me, Wade, and said you were too young to involve. Said the same nearly applied to me, but they felt someone close to Kim ought to be there." Sara's eyes narrowed with suspicion, and Young Ron frowned as well. "There were sixteen of us, total. They...took care of the guards, I didn't pay much attention to that. When we got inside, they told me where Fritsch was, and one guy went with me up to his office. We hadn't set off any alarms, so we caught him by surprise. Things are kind of fuzzy, though, I think I was too focused on getting to him, getting....getting a hold of him, making him pay for what he'd done! So maybe...when I heard they had his data...maybe I just let go."

Sara nodded, but not as a response. "And then they had you, didn't they? You killed a man. You killed a man who might have told how to cure Kim. Because the information wasn't in the database, was it, Ron?"

Ron shook his head. "No. I didn't think it through, you know, I just let them convince me...blackmail me, I guess! There was more, and I feel like a fool for falling for it....I 'accidentally' overheard two men discussing turning Kim into an agent, somehow, because of her mental state. If I'd just stopped to think, I'd have realized that wouldn't work. Kim was still Kim, even if she didn't want to believe it. They'd never have made a killer out of her, like they did with me. But the way I was thinking then, I couldn't take the chance!"

Wade was staring at him, aghast. "Ron, how could you keep this all a secret, all this time? How could you let them use you like that?"

"Because I was young and stupid, that's how!" He snapped back. "But now I'm going to change that!" He looked belligerently at Sara and Young Ron. "And you two aren't going to stop me!"

"You mean, stop you from deserting Kim?" Young Ron responded. Sara did a double-take, and Wade's jaw dropped.

Old Ron blinked rapidly, then his face suffused with red. "Deserting her? I can't even talk to her! She doesn't even know I'm out here!"

"So? She's still going to be there after you've gone, this world, with all that's happened here, will still be here. And when you're back there, if you succeed, what are you going to do? Kill yourself? I don't think so!" Old Ron turned his head away from his younger counterpart, face petulant. "So, there you'll be, watching a young, happy Kim and hopefully a young, happy Ron having the relationship we might have had. And it'll feel good....at first!"

Old Ron's head snapped back around, as Young Ron continued, "And then one day, it'll just hit you! That that happy Kim isn't 'your' Kim. Your Kim will still be in that hospital, and her parents will still be in that house, alone. And you won't have undone anything, really, just made yourself a happier world, solely for your own benefit!" he paused, then softened his tone. "This world, all 'our' worlds, are shaped by our relationship with Kim. We chose that path, and on many of those worlds, that path led to tragedy for one or both of us. Yours did, mine did. And 'my' Kim has to live with whatever guilt she feels for what happened to me. I don't like that, not at all! But, it's just one world, out of them all, dude. There are so many where it ends happily, trust me!"

"But...but, there's nothing I can do for her here, nothing!" Old Ron cried out in anguish.

"Of course there is! You can go see her parents, keep them from being alone with their grief! You can keep her legacy alive, keep her memory alive! You can live. My Kim would give her life to have me alive again, yours would want you to have a life, and you know it! It's not the same as if she died, I know! She's there, and may be there for the rest of both your lives! But, she _is_ alive, and has some happiness, even if the reasons aren't the best. She can't have the life she should have had, and you can't really change that now. And you have to know how sorry I am to have to tell you that! Dude, it's corny as hell, but you have to take what life deals you, and make something of it!"

There was silence for nearly a minute. Then Old Ron chuckled. "I don't remember being that smart when I was young! Except, maybe I was, I Just didn't use it the way I should have! You're right, completely right, in the end I'd accomplish nothing, which is pretty much how my life has gone!" He shook his head ruefully. "It's just, I have trouble thinking of anything that isn't focused on saving Kim! It's the old way, save Kim, save the day! She'd make everything all right, if she was all right! But, that isn't true, she can't erase the past, or make me forget it, can she?"

Young Ron grinned. "She might try, though! 'Anything is possible for a Possible' after all! I know it's been a long time since you may have believed that, I guess in your case you found out it isn't always so! My last memories of my Kim are of her fighting, and enjoying it, before she got knocked out by an explosion! Not my fault, by the way!" A faint grin crossed Old Ron's face, and Wade snorted. "I don't want to think about what she felt afterwards, I don't know if I could take it! So, my experience isn't anything to yours, I can't imagine how hard it was, or how much I'd do, if I thought I could change it...for everyone."

Old Ron winced, then nodded. "Yeah, for everyone! I would be deserting them all, wouldn't I? And one day, I'd realize it. And then I'd feel like a bigger failure, somehow!" He looked at Wade, then getured towards the time machine. "Take that thing apart, and make sure it'd take a decade to reassemble, just in case 'Mulehead' Ron resurfaces, 'kay?" Wade hesitated, then nodded. "You Got it, Ron!"

Old Ron stood up slowly, suddenly looking older then his years. He looked at the gear he'd assembled on the floor. "I'll be back for that later, Wade. I need to go see some people, and give them an honest chance to slam the door in my face!" He grinned faintly, then looked at Sara and Young Ron. "What about you two? Mission accomplished?"

Ron kept his mouth shut, as Sara considered her answer. "Well, we have things to do, before we go home, but they're nothing for you to worry about, Ron. And I do mean that, sincerely. Try and make your life a good one, from here on out. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more." Old Ron continued to regard her curiously for a moment, then nodded, and turned to Young Ron. "Well, this is totally weird!" He looked his younger counterpart in the eye searchingly. "I assume, if they recruited you, they have Kim, too, don't they?"

Young Ron winced a bit, then reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, but it's kind of weird, dude! She's into someone else. But, I'd still do anything for her, and vice versa! But, I bet that doesn't surprise you at all, does it?"

Old Ron shook his head. "Nope! Not a bit! Into someone else? Who?" Seeing Young Ron getting all flustered, he grinned widely, "Okay, never mind! Not that I really _need _to know,right?" That only triggered more contortions on Young Ron's face, as he thought how he'd feel in the same sitch. Sara bailed him out.

"Ron, we really have to go now, things to do, after all!" She took his arm and steered him towards the door. "Wade, can you clear it for us to go out the front door? Lot safer then our other method." Wade nodded, walked to a nearby console, and picking up a phone, accessed an internal line. After a few quiet words, he nodded to the pair. "Go ahead." After they had left, he looked at Ron, speculatively. "He was right, you know."

"Really? Then why didn't you say anything, or try and stop me?"

"Because I didn't think to, and I'd rather have been rid of you, then to have you here, in that mood." Wade answered honestly, and Ron flinched. His gaze dropped to study his own feet. "Guess I need to start my apologizing here and now, don't I?"

Wade regarded him for a moment, then shrugged. "Still keep a bottle in my office, even if it's not smart for me to indulge. Shall we go?" He gestured towards the door.

Ron took a deep breath and exhaled, then made his own sweeping gesture. "After you, Wadester! A little indulgence might be a good idea, before meeting the Doctors Possible!"

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Ron and Sara recovered their own gear nearby. "So now, we go back to the Institute, and give them what they need?" Ron asked hopefully.

Sara didn't answer at first. Then she sighed, "Wish I hadn't brought you now, Ron! But, that was a great job, back there, so it seems I had to, to accomplish that objective." She winced. "But then again...the problem is, you can't get home on your own, and I can't go back until I've done what's necessary! So, you have to come along, there's no other choice."

Ron's puzzlement was clear on his face. "What do you mean? Are we going to make sure Kim is cured, or not?"

Sara smiled sadly. "Of course we are, Ron! But, things are a little more complicated then you think. And explaining what comes next is going to be hard, whether I tell you before, or after. So, lets just get going! Grab your stuff, we're jumping again."

Ron's jaw dropped. "You mean we're going to....then why did we just do what we did?"

"Because.....I had to know something important, Ron, that's why! Something about how this all happened, and something about...him." She shook her head sadly, "I'd almost rather wait and see what he does....but I've indulged myself too much already. Come on, Ron, let's go save Kim!"

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One more chapter, I promise! As to why Sara is breaking the rules, the explanation relates to her explanation of the project in Chapter seven. She and Ron are motivated by their desire to save Kim, but to others, she's not the important one.

Please Read and Review.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

Decided to try this format for the ending, originally intended to describe the events as they happened, but this is shorter.

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"I really thought I'd gotten the message through to Ron the first time, but maybe I just didn't put it in the right terms..." Sara mused aloud, "But this time, 'our' Ron got through to him." She paused, "And a whole alternate Earth ceased to exist as a consequence. I hope Ron doesn't actually consider that, no idea how it would effect him."

"Mmmm..."

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"I do congratulate you on your contribution to the success of the mission, Ronald!" The Chamberlain said, "And it validates Sara's choice in taking you along. But now we are here to discuss what came afterwards, and you have to be completely honest with us, because we _will_ know if you are not. Do you understand?"

Ron shifted nervously in his seat. A comfortable chair, with him the only person seated in the huge room. The Chamberlain paced back and forth in front of him as he talked, and five Supervisors, including Ron's own, were also visibly present, standing in a semi-circle behind the Chamberlain. But Ron sensed that there were others watching and listening, somewhere behind the Supers, that he just couldn't see.

When Ron hesitated to answer, the Chamberlain spoke again, in a soothing tone of voice. "You are in no way responsible for what happened, Ronald. If you had been a full Agent, with the power to initiate travel yourself, you would have been expected to act differently! But, you were unable to do anything to stop what Sara did, without becoming stranded in the past."

Ron had a little trouble maintaining his composure. _"Yeah, and that's probably another reason Sara took me, so I wouldn't be blamed with her! I think she suspected that she'd violate the rules, But I don't believe she __knew__ it when we left! But I did help her. Or is the Chamberlain trying to tell me knows that, but I don't have to admit it?" _He nodded solemnly to the Chamberlain. "I understand, Sir."

The Chamberlain nodded back. "Tell me, what happened after you acquired the cure for Kim Possible's condition?"

Ron swallowed nervously before he spoke. "Well..first, it wasn't exactly the 'cure', it was a description of what Doctor Fritsch did to her, step by step, to...ruin her. With all his notes. Sara said it was lucky I couldn't understand them. Anyway, once we had them, we went back in time to a couple of days before the Tweebs...um, Kim's brothers? Anyway, we arrived a couple days before they made their time trip. But, after looking around for a bit, Sara said we hadn't gone back far enough...."

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"One problem was," Sara studied the ceiling as she spoke, "I had no idea if an event triggered by Kim's fate actually stabilized that world! And I certainly didn't intend to destabilize it! But of course I should have realized that any such event would have had to have occurred much earlier. Of course, if I had had any idea what I'd be doing before I left, I could have researched....well, never mind that! In any event, it was my choice to go back further."

"I understand your dilemma."

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"...so we went back to the day of the raid on Doctor Fritsch's home by Ron and some covert guys from a certain agency. And Sara abducted Doctor Fritsch before they got to him, and turned him over to Global Justice. And he confessed to them everything that he'd done. But we saw something strange there as well. One of the guys who broke in went straight to the library, and collected the same pages I did. They also cleaned out his computer, or course. And one guy took _that_ Ron up to Fritsch's office. He seemed...Ron, that is, a little out of things. Sara thinks he was drugged somehow on the way, primed to lose his temper as soon as he saw Fritsch! Anyway, the look on the other guy's face..." Ron grinned, "Finding the office empty, when they'd had Fritsch on Thermal minutes earlier..."

"You say Fritsch confessed to Global Justice?" the Chamberlain interrupted Ron. Thrown off his stride, Ron took a moment to refocus his thoughts. "Um, yeah, Sara kinda persuaded him to talk, and talk about everything!" _"Why did he interrupt? Was I rambling? Or....oh, too much information, someone might realize Sara wouldn't have known what was going on with the raiding group, if she was snatching Fritsch at the time! I almost confirmed that I helped her."_

"Did she give a reason for snatching the doctor, when she already had what she needed?" Was the next question.

Ron shrugged apologetically."Well, not really. Sara probably wanted to see what the guys who wanted to 'recruit' that Ron would do if their plan came unhinged."

"And how did they react?"

Ron's face darkened, and his hands clenched into fists. His voice was tight, controlled. "When they found out that Kim's mom had the papers, the guy in charge didn't want to give up having MMP at his beck and call! Sara said he was the wrong guy for his job, too interested in having a flashy agent, not enough in gathering the intelligence he was supposed to. He thought having me and using me to solve some problems would get him promoted faster! Anyway, he either wanted the cure to fail, or...Kim to die, in a way that he could still use to get me on his team!"

He paused a moment to regain his composure, he'd gotten a bit shrill at the end. "His first option failed, when Wade found out one of the doctors on Kim's team was working for the guy! He got the boot, real quick! And the second fell apart when the main guy himself was caught having a meeting with some guy from China, under suspicious circumstances!"

Ron remembered the guy, big, bluff, full of himself. Chewing out two subordinates in a small park, away from prying surveillance devices. The Chinese guy...._"I consider my family's debt to you discharged, Ying Ko!"._..walking up, and then the FBI popping out of the bushes. Well, not literally, of course. "They didn't charge him with anything, but apparently it cost him his security clearance, and then his job, which made Kim safe, anyway!" He looked up into the Chamberlain's eyes, "But I don't know if Kim was cured! We came straight back as soon as we were sure that Kim and her Ron were safe from those guys."

His pleading look caused the Chamberlain to chew his lip, then nod. "Yes, she was, Ronald. According to our 'updated' information, she was able to leave the hospital three months later, and resumed her heroic activities a year later, but she didn't return to fighting international supervillains. She received most of those missions from various intelligence agencies, and they no longer had complete faith in her. She did find a somewhat more limited way to save lives, though still doing far more than any normal person could be expected to do, married her Ron, and had a family with him."

Ron smiled fondly, then nodded his thanks. "I'm glad that worked out, anyway!"

The Chamberlain nodded as well, but his tone was grave. "Yes. For them, it ended well. But it was still a violation of our rules, and we have to judge Sara for it. She was not supposed to change the timeline, we _prevent_ such actions! But, you may go, Ronald, we are done with you."

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"Smoked Gouda? I find that munching on some cheese is an excellent way to deal with stress."

Sara regarded the small pink creature seated beside her in the ante-room with a smile. "Is there any problem you _don't_ believe can be solved by munching on cheese?" Even as she spoke, she accepted the wedge of cheese offered, and tasted it. "Hmmm, Good Gouda! Mind you, until recently, I wouldn't have been able to tell! But recently my knowledge of cheese has been increased dramatically." They both munched quietly for a minute, then Rufus 2824 spoke up.

"It was our fault, you know." He looked up at Sara's curious face, "That you had to do what you did, that is. We're supposed to handle that sort of problem, but in this case, we messed up, rather badly!" He now eyed her warily. "You have figured out the true reason for your actions?"

Sara regarded him silently for a moment, then sighed. "It was kind of obvious, when you think about it. We're supposed to prevent the formation of as many stabilized copies of the Earth as we can, for as long as we can, knowing that despite our efforts, man will inevitably force 'someone' to take action to preserve the human race. But the longer we delay it, the more people will get out into the universe, and survive. And there's the point of _this_ exercise."

She rose and paced as she continued. "When I stopped in the first time to see 'Old' Ron, I had just finished a mission, where I prevented a particular weapon from being used, to save Kim and others from a horrible fate. I found a way to accomplish the same result without the weapon. I think I was supposed to hear about Kim's fate on the other world, and do what I've just done then. My interest in her and Ron is well known, so me breaking the rules for them would have seemed natural, I guess."

R2824 nodded, eyes downcast. "Yes, that was another failure of ours, though for different reasons. You see, our time-travel technology has one or two weaknesses. The team we sent there arrived in an unfortunate place. They had just arrived when a human wearing tin foil on his head and wielding a shotgun attacked them. The team leader panicked, and reactivated his portal control without the proper cooldown period. The team escaped, but created a 'block' that prevented any further travel by us to that time, and five years in each direction."

Sara nodded absently in acknowledgment, then continued as if no interruption had taken place. "The weapon was deployed on the personal authority of Kim's father. Which got him in trouble, not the least because he hadn't informed the Government that his team had perfected the device. It's detonation was detected by other governments, as well as some extraterrestrials, and caused quite a furor, both on Earth, and elsewhere. He lost his security clearance, and had to find other work. Teaching, as a matter of fact. And his sons also lost interest in rockets. But he believed it was worth it, because he saved his daughter."

"In the other matter, his distress at what was done to Kim also cost him his job, and the boys went in a different direction again, investing in time travel experiments, and more commercially applicable things, to finance their experiments. So, in both cases, three people who probably had a significant effect on how many people survived from those worlds were diverted from the path where they could have had the most influence."

R2824 nodded solemnly. "A great deal of influence, easily measured in millions, as far as survivors are concerned. Which we know from other worlds where they performed their best work." He sighed, "So we set out to increase the survivors from other Earths, and keeping the Possible men in the game was one priority. Had to be circumspect, we don't have as much 'official' approval as you have! And by the way, you're not supposed to know about us."

Sara smirked. "Noted! And of course, no one here could possibly be picking up your 'slack', could they?" She asked sardonically.

"Of course not! Completely outside your charter, and all that!" The sounds of a door opening nearby caused R2824 to scowl, "I believe I need to depart, but I have to ask you...when you figured out what was going on, why did you go through with it, knowing you were basically being used?"

Sara just smiled sadly. "Maybe because I believe it was worth it?" She shrugged, "I'm not sure. But the blame will fall on me, that's what counts. Not sure what would happen if they didn't have me as the fall guy...." Her voice trailed off as she saw she was now alone. She looked towards the sound of approaching footsteps, and saw the Chamberlain round the corner, his face grave.

Sara straightened her shoulders, and looked him in the eyes. "Well? What is the verdict, Sir?" For some reason, her words, or her attitude, made the Chamberlain hesitate. But then he sighed. "Seven years." He replied.

Sara didn't flinch, just nodded. "Where? If I'm correct, it needs to be a real prison, some time in the past, or other isolated location, like an island with no human population? And, I won't be gone from here for that long, will I?"

The Chamberlain shook his head. "No, indeed! As far as everyone here is concerned, you won't be gone more then a day. And you are correct as to where you must be sent." He added sadly. Then he became thoughtful. "But as to exactly where....I may have an idea." Sara's wary look made him chuckle. "Ah, I see I'm not fooling you, am I?" He gestured to the bench seat Sara had previously occupied. Sara nodded, then sat down.

"Do you remember the story you told Ron and Wade Load, on your first 'visit' to them?" He began, "The one involving my sister?"

Sara nodded, puzzled at first, then realization dawned. "When she was running a prison on Earth? You're thinking of having me serve time there?"

The Chamberlain held his hands up, shaking his head. "No, no, not at all! I was actually thinking that you could work for my sister. You'd still be in a prison, and you'd have to stay there the full seven years, but probably as a guard." He paused, a calculating look in his eyes, "And maybe find out the answer to a certain mystery?" At her puzzled glance, he explained, "Whether or not Kim Possible came back to be with the children?"

Sara started, then shook her head. "I already know, she couldn't have given up that much freedom, her family and all, for what? Eighteen years?"

He shook his head. "No, the youngest child, at the time Kim entered the prison, was seven. All of them were allowed to choose to leave, and start new lives, when they became adults. And they all did, with my sister's help. So, three years of her own sentence, one year away, then seven more until the youngest left."

"That's still a lot of time, especially with her other activities! I mean, once she did her time, she wouldn't have too many restrictions as far as going back to her old life, would she?"

"Actually, yes!" He replied, "You only have her prison diary as a source, but my sister told me a few things Kim didn't put in it. She should never have gotten the sentence she did in the first place, but she had an enemy high in the government that she was unaware of. And he was a master of the 'spin' I believe it was called. He wanted her put away, and managed to persuade others that it was the smart move, by finding a reason for them to support the idea, and then selling them on it. And he also made sure there was no commutation of her sentence once she was released, which did limit her actions significantly, being a parolee. He did more, but that's not important." He noticed the look in Sara's eyes. "I want to make something perfectly clear, Sara, you are _not_ to do anything to change that timeline!"

She regarded him sourly. "Not likely! Besides, Kim went to prison on several worlds, and on some of those, she didn't deserve it at all! She even died in prison on two of them, that I know of. If I was going to change one of them...okay, exactly when were you thinking I should start serving my 'sentence', time wise?"

He seemed to think that over for a bit. "Oh, perhaps a year before Kim's arrival there? Should give you enough time to learn your job before she arrives! That way, you'll still be around when she leaves, and a year later, to see if she takes the Warden's offer."

She looked at him with a mildly suspicious expression. "So, I'll be there when she arrives?"

He nodded, smiling. "Yes, yes, you may even be assigned to be her guard! Of course, that would be up to my sister to decide!. Of course, you can choose the deserted island option, no human contact for seven years..." He shrugged eloquently.

If anything, the suspicion in her eyes increased. "Yeah, I'll have to think about that..." She trailed off.

He nodded solemnly, then slapped himself on the thighs and rose to his feet, "Of course! Just let me know your answer by the end of the day!" He started to leave, then turned, with a very serious look on his face. "But know this! The diary will not prepare you entirely for Miss Possible's...condition when she arrived. She might shock you."

Sara stared at him a moment, trying to read his expression, then nodded. "I see. I'll take that into consideration." The Chamberlain nodded, turned, and left. Sara stood till for a moment, then her posture sagged. "Have to go tell everyone goodbye, even though I'm the only one who'll be gone!" She muttered wearily.

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Kim, Shego, and Ron were sitting around a table in the cafeteria when she entered. She didn't know how much Ron had told them, but they definitely had concerned looks on their faces. She responded with a smile as she took her seat.

Shego predictably got the first words in. "So, how much trouble are you in?"

Sara responded by looking at Kim. "Partner, you need to be ready to visit Scotland three days from now, someone has some funny ideas concerning Mary, Queen of Scots."

Kim's jaw dropped. "Three days? Then you're not suspended, or anything?" Shego looked suspicious, but Ron looked way too happy. Sara winced inwardly. _"They'll figure it out, I should tell them, but....I just can't!"_

Kim saved her any further angst by grimacing. "Oh, I am _so_ not liking the idea of what we'll need to wear in public back then!" She sighed, "Of course, in the old days, _my_ old days, that is, Wade would probably have been able to hide so many gadgets in one of those dresses..." She trailed off, a wistful look on her face.

Sara's lips twitched, then kept he voice casual as she commented, "In all the time you've been here, Kim, have you ever gone down to the artificer's section, where our gear is made?"

Kim tried to drag herself back to the moment. "What? No, I've never been..." Then she became _very _alert. "Why?" She asked suspiciously. Ron was also looking at Sara with hope dawning in his eyes. Shego was just getting more suspicious.

"Oh, no reason!" Sara said innocently, "Just wondered if you ever went down there to show your appreciation for their hard work! _All _of their hard work!"

Kim peered at her suspiciously, but then got to her feet. "Ooookay, maybe I should..." Ron cut in with "We should", "...go down and thank whoever's down there for all their hard work!" She ended with a smile and a sharp nod, then she and Ron headed for the exit.

Shego leaned back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest, one eyebrow raised. "So? How long?"

Sara grimaced. "Seven years. For me, that is. I really should have told them, they'll be mad as hell when they next see me!"

Shego grimaced as well. "Ouch! Yeah, they'll be mad you didn't tell them, but it won't last! So how do they do this, anyway? I mean, where do they send you?"

Sara snorted. "Well, they gave me two choices. One bad, one...not so bad at all, so that decision is made." She looked at Shego. "However, there is a small chance I won't be coming back. If I die for any reason during this sentence, that's it!"

"If that happens, then you'll _really_ make Kim mad,so don't let it happen!" Shego replied. "Well, maybe I'll go down to the artificer section as well, and see if you were playing those two, or not!" She got up, then leaned close enough not to be easily overheard. "Take care of yourself! I don't want to be the senior surviving member of this team, got it?" She patted Sara on the shoulder, then left.

Sara watched her go, an amused look on her face. _"I think you'll be finding a surprise of your own down there, Shego!"_ Then her look sobered. _"Why did I ever have to develop an interest in those three? I really should have stayed a loner, I hate the idea of leaving people grieving when I go!" _Then she smiled again. _"But I'd be a much poorer person for not knowing them, that's certain!"_ She rose to her feet, scanning the cafeteria, noting the curious looks she was getting. "See y'all later!" She called, then headed out the door. _"Prison Guard? Feh! Terrible wardrobe!_

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And that's that! No plans to continue this, I don't think. Started out Roncentric, and really went off course. Got tangled up myself in the 'rules', never good for the author.

Anyway, Read and Review, if you please.


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